Can I Kill Her?
by i-hime
Summary: Green eyes, pink har and an all too-happy smile. "I hate her." Red hair, a dirty mouth and a scary attitude. "I hate her more." This was the never-ending battle between Uchiha Sasuke's best friend and girlfriend. And with both of them being licensed to kill, he had a feeling blood would be shed. "Sasuke, I hate the color pink." "Sasuke-kun, can I kill her?" AU. SasuSaku
1. Chapter 1

Been wanting to do a CIA-esque Naruto fanfic for a while now…. I just had to get this out of my chest so I can continue full on with 'Altered' I'll be writing this along-side it because sometimes, I need a breather from the drama fic. (Altered will, most likely, be finished before this fic because I love that fic as if it was my child, and is already sequenced out; whereas this one isn't as planned out.)

Read and Review, guys =)

* * *

Chapter 1: Whirlwind Meets A Volcano

Every guy has three women in his life that he holds in high regard. One would be his mother, obviously. Another is that one best friend who is different from the rest in terms of gender— his girl best friend. The one he turns to for advice when all his male friends give him useless recommendation that revolve around beer and strippers. And lastly, the third one, is his girlfriend.

Now, many know of the conflicts between the mother and girlfriend, especially if she is to be the man's future bride. Many stories were written, movies made… But, there is also the never ending battle that doesn't gather much attention: the war between the girlfriend and the girl best friend.

Sometimes, if the guy is lucky, the two get along well and will cultivate quite a close relationship with each other. But, in some unlucky cases, the two end-up hating each other and will more often than not try to kill each other while the guy isn't looking; though the worst they could do was pull each other's hair.

Sadly, Uchiha Sasuke's case was the latter with a few more misfortunes thrown in for good measure. Because as if to make matters worse, his girlfriend and girl best friend were actually _capable_ of killing each other. You see, they were all highly trained agents of Konoha's elite ANBU organization. He had two warring trained-to-kill agents in his hands. And the fact that they were licenced to kill did not help the situation at all.

X

_The two females stood rigidly in front of each other both trying their best to intimidate each other although they were both quite unyielding. Sasuke walked in between them although teetering more on the right side where a redhead stood, glaring at the person opposite her. His steady gaze met Sakura's for a split second before opening his mouth to speak the words she wished weren't true. "Sakura, this is my girlfriend." _

The moment those words echoed out of his mouth, the war was on.

* * *

_9 pm, Location: The Blue Fin, Mission Type: Recon_

They were seated in a table that was far away from the hustle and bustle of the restaurant; just a little off the corner of the wall. It gave them not just seclusion, but the entire view of the vicinity.

Bored eyes scanned the place for a waitress to take their orders. "Where the fuck is she?" a female voice boomed, her deep voice cutting through the silence like a knife. She shifted her irritated gaze to the male who was seated in front of her.

"We just got here, she'll come any minute now." He saw her eyes roll and smirked at her reaction. "Tayuya, you're being a lot more hostile than usual today." It was voiced as a mere stating of the obvious but the girl in front of him knew that this was his own way of asking her if anything was wrong.

"I hate your best friend."

_X_

"I'm telling you, Ino! She was gross and MANLY." Sakura rambled as she spooned some ice cream into her mouth, glaring at the wall in the process. Her best friend was dating a demonic entity of some sort and she was not going to take it lightly. "She was glaring at me as if she wanted to eat me!"

Ino rolled her eyes at her friend's choice of words. "I doubt she'd find you delicious." The blonde muttered, yelping when Sakura had thrown a fist in her direction. "Forehead!" The girl yelled as she caught the rosette head's fisted hand. "You bash my face in, I'll break your nose!"

"You sound just like that she-male! I bet you'd get along nicely!" Sakura spat, yanking her fist out of Ino's grasp and returning the screen in front of her. "You sure this isn't just for the mission?" she heard the blonde ask from behind her chair.

The enraged pink-haired female gave her a look of utter annoyance. "Positive." She spat.

X

_11 hours prior to mission, location: Main ANBU headquarters level three: Medical Unit _

Sakura grinned at the scowling young man in front of her. "It's just muscle weight, you loser." She mumbled.

"Was that supposed to make me feel better?" a male asked, giving the scale a once over before stepping off and standing next to his friend who nodded. "Yes, it means you've gotten more muscle. Why are you so worried? Afraid you won't fit into size your 2 jeans?" the young woman remarked sarcastically, granting a hostile stare from the young man next to her.

"Sakura." He growled and stepped closer so that he towered darkly over her to prove that he had taken the jab personally; his onyx eyes seemed to darken further as he glared at her. Said girl held her hands up in surrender and walked to the bed. She patted the mattress lightly indicating for him to sit on it. Sakura didn't bother to check if he followed her silent instruction, she _knew _he'd sit.

"I'm just curious as to why you're being overly sensitive about your weight." She explained, looking over from her shoulder to cast him an innocent look before turning back to grab her stethoscope from the tray that held her medical tools. "You aren't one to fret over the weighing scale dial."

Sakura heard a sigh and raised an eyebrow as she turned to him, awaiting his explanation. "My _captain_ is very meticulous about his men's physical condition. He checks every damned week and if there is even the _slightest _change that we can't explain, he'll automatically think something is wrong."

"Like what, exactly?"

Sasuke shrugged. "That we're slacking off or something as equally wrong,"

The man was one for morals? Sakura couldn't help but let out a snort. "Considering what we do is morally correct. 'Coz you know, having a licence to kill is ethically right." Sakura stated sarcastically. "Breathe in for me." She added, pressing the cold contraption to Sasuke's bare chest that moved slightly when he obeyed her and took a deep breathe.

"Technically your dad hasn't been captain for quite some time now." Sakura quipped, giving Sasuke a grin that he matched with a small smirk. "The geezer's having a tough time letting it go. He still has me call him captain." He shook his head, ignoring when Sakura moved the stethoscope to his back. "He wasn't even a captain anymore when I joined ANBU."

"Blood pressure." Sakura mentioned, holding her hand out for his arm. He complied without arguing and watched her strap on the Velcro band across his right upper arm. "Give him a break. I guess he must've loved his job."

"Considering he was at it for most my childhood—yes, he loved his job." Sakura gave her 'patient' a small smile and a pat on the shoulder before marking his blood pressure onto her chart. Sasuke's father had been one of the best platoon captains in ANBU history. Of course, this came with a price. He'd missed half of his eldest son's childhood and almost _all _of Sasuke's. This caused an obvious rift between the two and had even been responsible for Sasuke's rebellion during his early years.

Sakura racked her mind for a different topic, having a pissed Sasuke in a room filled with sharp objects wasn't the smartest idea. "Have you had your shot?" she asked him; eyeing the continuous blank spots under the 'soldier shot' column of his chart. He shook his head in response.

"You're a year due." Sakura stated in a condescending tone.

"You were busy."

"There are other medics that could've done it. You know… the ones who are full-time medics. Not part-time like me. Uchiha, you know I'm an active agent." Sakura scolded the Uchiha, her hands finding their way to her hips as she continued to relentlessly chastise the young man for skipping his shots. These soldier shots made sure that agents sustained enough energy even if the agent was not properly rested and fed. It also boosted an agent's response to injury, giving them more time than a regular person to get medical assistance if they were injured or poisoned. If something had gone wrong during the period wherein Sasuke missed his shot, he could've died or if not, suffered some serious damage.

"You've missed _two _shots! Sasuke, you know you need the shots every six months! How were you still put on the field?!"

"Just give me the shot." He grumbled, brushing her question aside as if it held no gravity; like it was an inquiry on the weather. What Sakura didn't know wouldn't hurt her. She'd actually most likely hurt him, if she found out how he'd gotten away with not getting any shots. His eyes met her green ones and watched them narrow at his blunt order.

"What am I, your bitch?" she exclaimed, grabbing the syringe with the largest needle from a tray and held it up. Sakura smiled at the Uchiha's mild look of discomfort at the humungous piece of sharp metal; she was irked with how rude his tone was after all. "That's what you signed up for when you became my best friend." She heard him say.

Sakura poked the needle into his arm and squeezed out the serum a sadistic smirk forming on her lips when she saw Sasuke flinch ever so slightly. "I thought that was what a girlfriend was for."

"Who needs a girlfriend when you have a best friend?"

Sakura bit back a laugh, nearly dropping the syringe to the floor the moment she pulled the needle out of Sasuke's outstretched arm. "I don't think Naruto wouldn't be happy to hear that. Technically you just said having a best friend was like having a girlfriend. He's still not over that kiss you guys had; best friend or not, I'm pretty sure he'd kill you if you said that to his face." This time she laughed at the memory of two of her best friends kissing while they were attending their first ANBU 'fresh blood' seminar.

"That was an accident. And you _know _what I just said didn't involve him." Sakura slapped the part of his upper arm where she'd previously stuck a needle into and grinned when the young man jumped a little; a mixture of shock and pain on his face.

"Check-up's over." Sakura declared, throwing his shirt at his face. Sasuke caught the fabric seconds before it hit his nose and quickly slipped it over his head. "Speaking of girlfriend…" he started eyeing his only female best friend who'd perked up at the word 'girlfriend'. Really, why was everybody so curious about his dating life? It bothered him to no end that people were constantly trying to guess who he was dating. "I'm—

"Are you guys fucking done? Because I would like to have my check-up before the end of the year." A deep gravelly, yet somewhat feminine, voice echoed from the door. "Tayuya." Sakura read from her chart before glancing at the young woman who was scowling by the door.

She had long red-orange hair that hit her mid-back; contrasting her porcelain white skin and black rimmed brown eyes. Her pretty face, even though it was set in a scowl at the moment, was framed by hair her and covered slightly due to a few strands of hair that draped down the left side of her face.

Sakura's eyes travelled down Tayuya's slim but lean body; it was very much like her own. Sakura lifted a brow, noticing that though Tayuya looked hardened and trained—almost manly, even. She still maintained an air of femininity; though Sakura noticed, it was only there when she wanted it to be and she seemed to 'switch it off' most of the time. For example, now and probably 99 percent of the time.

"I haven't seen you before." Sakura murmured, trying to place the face of the girl in front of her. She'd never seen her walking around the building before. "We don't get assigned the same missions then." The red head replied rudely, as if Sakura wasn't high ranking enough to be assigned a mission with her. Sakura abandoned her attempt at polite conversation and hardened her stare. "Sasuke-kun, I'll see you later." Her tone was steely, her eyes still on Tayuya's smirking face, as she addressed the Uchiha who'd previously been seated awkwardly on the bed, watching the two interact. It was safe to say that the two did not get along at all.

"Hn." He murmured before leaving the two alone.

Tayuya's brown eyes followed Sasuke out of the room and when he was completely out of her sight, she walked to the bed and plopped down with an air of authority that pushed Sakura's temper to the edge. "Get to work, will you?"

Sakura glared at the fiery haired female but turned it down a couple of notches; trying to control her anger. She didn't want to risk stabbing the girl with a thermometer in the eye. "Have you had your shot yet?" she asked, the sentence coming out choppy due to her grit teeth.

"Nope." Tayuya answered, popping the 'p'. Sakura sighed. She suddenly wished that she hadn't used the biggest needle on Sasuke.

* * *

_9 hours prior to mission. Location: ANBU mess hall, floor two._

Sakura slammed her lunch tray next to Naruto's half-empty one and slid into the blue plastic chair he'd saved for her. The two had agreed to meet at the ANBU mess hall for lunch despite the on-going rumours that the sushi they served was 40% rubber. "Why the hostility?" Naruto asked.

"Annoying little she-male over at the hospital wing." Sakura ground out, stabbing her sushi with one of her chopsticks; her eyes widened slightly when the wooden stick, instead of piercing through the fish, bounced back. "You know, I think the sushi here really is 40% rubber."

She heard Naruto make an _'Eeww'_ sound and push his tray away. "Next time, we're going to floor five. They have better food over there." Floor two was the general mess hall; floor five had one too but was reserved for the higher ranking officers. "Why do we even go here?" he questioned his friend with an annoyed face. He thought they'd graduated from this mess hall ever since their promotions, why were they still having lunch in this food-impaired place?

"We eat here because no one we actually work eats here. Perfect opportunity to talk about them." Sakura answered in a matter-of-factly tone. "Technically, it's so _you_ can talk about them." Naruto corrected, sighing after, at the thought of his wasted lunch hour.

"Are you going to let me rant or what?" Sakura demanded, glaring at the blonde. Naruto grinned sheepishly. "My bad, my bad….Go on." He wasn't a push over; Sakura just looked like she wanted to kill someone when she was pissed, and getting caught in the crossfire didn't look appealing to him right now.

"I'm one for being badass and all. But this girl was just…ugh! I can't even explain how rude and arrogant she was." Naruto lifted an eyebrow. "Kinda sounds like teme, don't you think?"

"Uzumaki, I'm going to shove this fish-rubber hybrid down your throat and watch you choke." Naruto wiped the grin off his face immediately at the sound of Sakura's tone; he was pretty sure she meant that threat.

"She doesn't happen to have red hair, a hot bod and a really foul mouth does she?" Sakura gave him a menacing scowl. "Her _bod."_ She said emphasizing the last word and adding air quotes. "is manly, don't you see how broad her shoulders are? Aside from that, you got her description right."

Naruto checked his watch and gave his brooding friend a light pat on the back. "That's Tayuya. And," he leaned in close so his breath was on her ear. "I hate to break it to you, but she _is_ hot. I've got all the men here to back that statement up."

"I wouldn't be throwing around that statement around casually if I were you. Hinata wouldn't appreciate it." Sakura quipped, glaring at the blonde who stood up to leave. Naruto's head turned to the right slightly and spoke to Sakura; his gaze still at something to her right. Sakura watched his face break into a sly smile. "Speaking of Tayuya," he called out; throwing a thumb towards the direction he was currently looking.

Sakura whipped her head around just in time to see a familiar arm wrap around the red head's shoulders. Her eyes would have literally bulged out of their sockets had she not controlled her shock. She'd just seen that arm earlier this morning. It was Uchiha Sasuke's arm wrapped around Tayuya's shoulders _possessively_. "I-Is that…"

"So this was what he wanted to tell me." Naruto mused lightly to himself. Sakura's shoulders shook with anger at his devil-may-care tone; why—How was he so calm about this? "Ja, Sakura-chan." She heard him say.

She kept her gaze locked on the couple as they walked to an empty table. Sakura's mind wandered through every agent she'd seen in headquarters and none of the faces belonged to her. Was she knew; an exchange of some sort? These weren't rare; ANBU has formed alliances with other agencies and go through frequent agent swaps; both temporary and permanent. Just recently, Sakura was sent to the Suna Special Ops headquarters, ran by Gaara, for a year-long medical program. Had ANBU done the same and had gotten Tayuya as an exchange?

Sakura smirked. "It was time for a little digging."

* * *

_5 hours prior to mission, location: 10__th__ floor, Head ANBU Captain's office._

Itachi stared at people gathered around his desk. "We received a mission from Tsunade-sama." He stated; not bothering to beat around the bush. "A recon mission." He added, answering the question that they all had in their minds.

Dark eyes scanned the room, landing on Sakura who stood erectly. "Your mentor has a knack for giving spur of the moment missions." Itachi's deep baritone echoed; a hint of frustration tinging his tone as he addressed Sakura.

The girl just shrugged apologetically. "Tsunade was the head of ANBU; the one with connections to the Hokage himself and was in charge of the whole organization. The busty woman also headed the medical department, seeing as that was her field of choice before being placed in the seat of power. She was a busy woman and sometimes impromptu missions happened.

"I'll make a note to tell her that."

Sakura saw the older Uchiha glare at her slightly at her mocking tone. He waved her off with a flick of his hand and muttered a 'nevermind.'

"What are the mission details?" Sakura heard one of her comrades ask. She turned around and discovered it was Sasuke.

"You and Tayuya are to keep tabs on this man." Itachi slide a folder out onto the desk for Sasuke to look at. The younger Uchiha picked the folder up and glanced at the man's profile; his eyes gliding through the man's description before flipping the page and looking at his picture.

"Pass it around." Itachi said boredly; as if the object was a toy that should be shared with everyone. Sakura wondered if this sort of thing was already second nature to him. She continued to stare at Sasuke before the shoulder was shoved under her nose. "Do you want to see it or not?"

Sakura glared at Tayuya who'd almost smacked the folder onto her face. The rosette haired agent tugged the file from the red head's grip harshly before opening the folder.

Name: Hitori Kyo

Height: 5'5

Hair color: brown

Age: 25

Affiliation: Uncertain

Criminal Record: Is known to be part of a massive drug ring led by an unknown yet powerful group of highly secretive mafia members; considered very dangerous. Has a track record of kidnapping and murder; wanted in every country.

"Every nation?" Sakura exclaimed, eyeing a black and white picture of young looking man, taken from a security camera of a restaurant somewhere in Kirigakure. The man was in a trench coat, looking over his back. He didn't look like someone who'd be wanted in every country at all.

"We've been trying to catch this drug ring for ages. But just when we think we've nipped it at the head, the leader proves us wrong. He's slippery; that man, whoever the hell he is." Itachi sounded genuinely angry. "Hatake Kakashi has been on this case since it popped up two years ago. He even had to give his position of Head ANBU captain to me to focus on this case; a case whose trail ran cold six months ago."

"This is the first lead in six months?" Tayuya asked; shocked at the lack of progress. Itachi nodded grimly. "This man is higher up the rankings than any of the men we've caught. He could be the one to lead us to the leader."

Sasuke and Sakura voiced out the same question. "Doesn't this seem too easy?" Sasuke walked forward and slid the folder back to his older brother. "A trail that turned cold, come alive again in a snap? Doesn't that seem off to you?"

"At this point, we're desperate for anything on these guys." Sakura nodded, understanding their current predicament. They weren't dealing with an ordinary thug with a penchant for banned pharmaceuticals; this certain drug lord has established himself in the underground world quite well and was responsible for many disturbing disappearances and murders of both civilian and agent alike. Heck his delivery boy was wanted in every country, that alone spoke of the power this man held.

"He is to arrive at the Blue Fin at 9 o clock pm." Itachi turned to Sakura first but shifted his gaze to Tayuya instead; Sakura felt her shoulders drop an inch. Was he really going to pick Tayuya over her? "You and Sasuke are to watch him from the restaurant." The rosette clenched her jaw; guess he did pick the red-headed wench over her.

"Sakura, you are to monitor the Hitori from the nearby hotel room. Sasuke and Tayuya will feed you a direct video from their eye cameras. Have Yamanaka come with you, I want her to read his actions, and if Morini Ibiki did a good job with her, it'll be a breeze."

The three nodded as they absorbed the instructions. Itachi checked his watch. "You have three hours to prepare before show time." He smirked at his inside joke. "Wear something nice, Otouto."

Sakura, who'd been on her way out, turned back to look at the Head Anbu Captain, "Kakashi-sensei," she started. "Is head of this case," Itachi continued for her. "You three are officially part of this case and will be reporting to him."

* * *

_1 hour prior to mission, location: Room 845-C, 8__th__ floor of The Château Le Blanc _

"He is late!" Sakura yelled, checking her watch again for what was probably the twentieth time. "A lead after six months and he's STILL LATE?"

Tayuya entered the room in a haltered, black floor-length evening gown and narrowed her heavily smoked out eyes at her. "Will you shut up? He'll be here soon." She growled, curling back her nude toned lips, courtesy of Sakura's make-up bag. "You shouting won't make him get here faster. And it's very hard to focus with you blabbering."

Sakura raised an elegant brow at the red-head who'd stepped out of the bathroom. "Why, you nervous or something?" she chided childishly. Tayuya rolled her eyes. "Oh please, I never get nervous." She smirked. "What about you? Last time I checked, all you could do is give people their shots."

"Remind me to let you bleed to death when you have a bullet in you." Sakura growled. She was Tsunade's only apprentice besides Shizune. Her skills as a medic were quite renowned; her fighting and field skills weren't chopped liver either. She was trained under Hatake Kakashi's tutelage, along with Naruto and Sasuke, when she was recruited at the age of 12. She'd accomplished and gone through so much, how dare this newcomer belittle her?

Tayuya threw a hostile glare at her. "I'll _put _a bullet in you." she spat, her eyes narrowing when Sakura smirked. "I'll have the candelabra, on that table, up your ass before you can even reach for your gun."

Just before the two could make good on their threats, Sasuke opened the door and strode in, glancing at each girl before walking to center of the room, teetering slightly toward Tayuya's side. He watched Sakura's glare intensify and the girl beside him smirk. He was walking into a cold war with news that could probably ignite it.

"Sakura, I meant to tell you earlier." He said slowly, waiting for the said girl's glare to simmer—it didn't. Tayuya rose an eyebrow at his slight pause of hesitation. "Sakura, this is my girlfriend."

The look on his best friend's eyes said it all; the war has begun.

* * *

Sakura and Ino stared at the screen boredly. "So he told you just now?" Ino asked, quickly throwing her friend a questioning look. "Yep."

"How long have they been dating?"

"No idea."

And that moment, as the two sat watching the screen that displayed what the two agents who were undercover saw, Sakura grabbed her phone and typed in a short message before sending it to Sasuke.

X

His phone vibrated in his pocket. Sasuke stopped glancing around the restaurant for their target to quickly open and read the text message he'd received.

**Text Msg from Sakura: 'I hate your girlfriend.**

* * *

**_LOVE IT _**

**_HATE IT?_**

**_SHOULD I CONTINUE IT OR…_**

**_A/N: Let me know if you guys want me to continue it. I kind of like it, actually…. Anyway, I hope to post chapter four of 'Altered' soon. I just needed a break from the drama =) My Ballet Exam is a month away…wish me luck guys!_**

This was typed during one of my late-night moments. I wanted this story out of my head so I posted without much editing. Sorry if there were some mistakes, I'll do a once-over and edit later. This was just so the idea is out, I need my focus for 'Altered'


	2. Chapter 2

**Considering I was half asleep while doing this, I sincerely apologize for any mistakes and the story's length. I couldn't write it any other time. After I post this, I might go dark for a bit due to my exams coming in April. I downed four cups of coffee for this….. review ok?**

**Anyway, I got enough people telling me to continue so I guess I'll have to plan out this story more. Hahaha.**

**READ AND REVIEW, GUYS =)**

Chapter 2: An Agent's Definition of a Bad Day

* * *

_30 minutes into mission, Location: The Blue Fin. Target: Hatori Kyo; spotted._

Tayuya watched the man cut into his fish with a knife and snorted. What was he trying to prove? That he was schooled in the ways of cutlery? "This is a fucking Japanese restaurant, and that fish is already cut! The fuck is this asshole doing?" All the man had to do was put the fish in his mouth, chew then swallow. Ta da! Done—easy. The extra cutting was unnecessary and, quite frankly, annoying. Sasuke put his hand on top of hers lazily. "Stop picking on him, you're bored. I get it." He smirked when Tayuya shot him a glare but complied; returning to her meal and shoving a piece of expensive-looking fish into her mouth.

"You look irked." She noted, her brown eyes casting her partner an observant glance before flicking her gaze back to the target. Sasuke's eyebrow twitched a little but other than that, he remained cool and collected. True, he was somewhat annoyed by the little squabble Sakura and Tayuya got into, but he was sure that a little bonding was going to fix it. After all the two females were alike in some aspects; hot-tempered, annoying, red-themed hair (because pink _is_ a shade of red) and had enough guts to endure his presence—and to actually enjoy it.

Speaking of Sakura, Sasuke glared at his phone quickly at the memory of her childish text message before pushing a concealed microphone that was attached somewhere near is jaw; just few inches off his left ear so that the hair that framed his face hid it from sight. "Do you have a clear view of him?" he asked; his deep baritone hushed and muted. He was answered with a brief moment of static before Sakura's voice blared into his ear; clear, crisp and _annoyed_. "Unless he has a fish for a head and seaweed as clothes, no—I don't." she spat.

The Uchiha rolled his eyes at his best friend's reaction and turned to Tayuya. "Keep your eyes on him. They're seeing your food." He ordered. "You have an iris-cam too! How do you expect me to eat?"

"Tell her, you guys aren't there for a date. The point of this is to watch Hatori." Tayuya clenched her jaw at Sakura's statement. The bitch knew that she had an ear piece too, why course the order through Sasuke? "I hear you just fine." She grumbled before slamming down her knife and jerked her head angrily towards the man who was seated three tables in front of her and was still sawing at his already cut fish. This was going to take forever.

"I have visual." Sasuke heard Ino say next to Sakura. He let go of the mic and looked at Tayuya who was about to say something snarky. "My back is turned to him, If I turn around to look at him, we'll be discovered." He said, intercepting her rant. The red-head rolled her eyes and put her head on her palms, ignoring the Uchiha altogether. She was a seasoned agent; schooled in the ways of covert operations, and she did not like getting told what to do.

Although Sasuke had the right to order her around; he was the mission leader, since Kakashi was still a no-show. But that girl he called his best friend had no business with the way she handled things during a mission. So what if she wanted to eat a little? It was part of their cover—who goes to a restaurant and _not_ eat? Tayuya grumbled a few curses as she watched the man destroy what was once a decent looking dinner.

She hated that pink haired bitch.

* * *

_Chateau Le Blanc, 9:30 pm_

Green eyes watched Ino as she stared into the screen; watching every movement of their target. "Drug dealers, why are they so eccentric?" Ino asked, noting how he was cutting the piece of fish into really small pieces. She was skilled at reading people, that was primarily the reason why she was chosen for the Interrogation division besides field work, but she couldn't exactly pinpoint any feelings behind Hatori Kyo's weird habit of shredding his dinner. What, was he incapable of chewing?

"Hey, Ino, You deal with the head and human reactions right?" she heard Sakura pipe up from behind her. "Not now, Sak. I'll deal with your denial over the ice-cube getting a girlfriend later." The blonde cracked a small grin at Sakura's obvious disdain over her comment but kept her eyes glued to the screen anyway.

Sakura, realizing that Ino was in full on business mode, plopped down next to her and looked into the second screen; the one that held Sasuke's video feed, "What do you see so far?" she asked as she squinted a little to eye a dark corner. It was their job to make sure nothing was overlooked. "Well besides that weird habit of his that is eating up so much time, he's pretty nervous." Ino answered shortly.

Conversation ceased as the two agents pondered on possible reasons for the current discomfort of their target. "Maybe he hates his best friend's girlfriend too." Sakura piped up earning a hard glare from Ino.

At the blonde's heated gaze, Sakura rolled her eyes and held up her hands; palms outward, indicating that she was dropping the topic. Throwing her friend a sheepish smile; Sakura mouthed a 'sorry' before speaking, "Must be from being out in the open," the syndicate had gone dark a few months ago; it must be new to be out for the first time; no arms, no bodyguards. "Could be," Ino said, dragging the sentence out.

* * *

_9:35 pm, Location: The Blue Fin_

"This is going nowhere." Sasuke mumbled, playing with a piece of rice on his plate. They've been seated here for over thirty minutes and he'd not taken a single bite from his plate of what now looked like baby food. What was this man doing? Thirty minutes and he was still playing with his food, did he have such a boring life that he'd spend so much time in a restaurant? He glared at Tayuya who's mouth twitched at his comment. "Well, look-y here. The patient Uchiha has snapped." She mocked, "At least you got to eat."

The Uchiha smirked. "You still thinking about food?" it was Tayuya's time to glare. "I really am hungry." She complained somewhat childishly, earning a scoff from the pink haired agent on the other end of the line. "Don't accidentally press the mic." Came Sakura's voice; devoid of any emotion.

Dark eyes rolled at her statement and decided to ignore the moody woman on the other end of the line and focused his gaze to the other emotionally riled up female who was seated in front of him; pouting. "Here, switch places with me." Sasuke offered. If getting some food in her would lighten her up, then he will feed her. "No. I got this." Tayuya stated seriously, her gaze not faltering from the man she was watching. Her remark put an impressed smirk on the Uchiha's aristocratic features. So she could hack it after all. Leaning back into his plush chair, he adjusted himself in his seat and glanced up at his girlfriend who wouldn't take his help.

"Let's go over the details." He said, trying to distract the girl from food as much as he could—considering they were in a restaurant, it was quite a challenge. Tayuya, however, complied to the given diversion and jumped on it immediately as if it were her saving grace. "We're monitoring him that's all we have to do. He's our only lead."

Sasuke nodded, grabbing his glass of water and taking a sip. "I don't understand why they chose us to do this." He heard Tayuya say. The dark-haired man regarded her over the rim of his glass. "This case is important. We can't afford an over-excited newbie to mess things up."

"Point taken."

* * *

Two girls were in their respective seats, both watching the video of feed they were each receiving intently. "You know for a second there, I thought he was going to feed her." Ino joked, breaking the comfortable silence and nudging Sakura with her shoulder, knowing that her friend would bristle at the statement. "Do your job, Ino." Sakura growled, lightly shoving the blonde for the unrequired comment. Ino scoffed and flipped her hair over her shoulder; a habit she developed that meant she was miffed, it was only moments ago when the pink-head was dying to talk about the Uchiha's relationship.

Baby blue eyes that were bored beyond belief, continued to watch the soundless video feed with scorn when something came to her. Ino straightened in her seat and eyed the screen more carefully; watching the man move with more careful a gaze than earlier and noticing the slight change in his actions. Ino took in a quiet but sharp intake of breath at her discovery; Hitori Kyo wasn't just playing with his food for fun, he was buying time. "He's waiting for someone!" Ino yelled, grabbing Sakura's shoulder and pulling the rosette to her side; pointing at the screen while doing so.

"What? How do you know?" Sakura asked in excitement and confusion. At this point, she'd take anything as long as it meant the mission was going somewhere. "You told me you saw nothing unusual."

Ino gave her a grin and tapped the screen repeatedly. "He's human." She answered, receiving a confused look from the rosette who was previously scrutinizing the man on the screen. "What gave it away; the breathing or the blinking?" Sakura asked sarcastically. "He got impatient." Ino clarified, ignoring the obvious insult and tapping the screen again, motioning for Sakura to look closer.

Sakura followed Ino's slim finger and focused on the man's face and noticed that every now and then, he would flick his gaze around the room and scan every table, even going as far as to twist around; he was waiting for someone.

Sakura jumped out of her seat and went to her own screen. She saw Tayuya check her phone then quickly stash it. It looked like Hitori Kyo wasn't the only one impatient; she stowed the snarky comment away for the moment. Something serious was about to go down and she needed the agents stationed in the restaurant to be informed. "Sasuk—Sakura was cut short by Ino's voice, followed shortly by Sasuke's; both conveying the same message.

"Sakura, gunshots,"

* * *

Sasuke let go of his mic and shot up from his seat, pushing past the sea of panicked rich people that darted past him, in their attempts to get away from the place that recently just turned into a battle ground. Two gunshots were fired from the opposite side of the room. Sasuke turned to Tayuya to strategize—but was cut off when she brushed past him. "Hitori is making a run." He heard her say before flashing forward faster than any woman could in heels and a floor-length dress.

That left him to deal with the gunman. "Fuck." He cursed as he pushed through the crowd and dodged a chairs that were being pushed back by the frantic customers. Whether this was planned or not, things were clearly working on Hitori's favour, "Sakura, pack up." He breathed into his microphone not breaking stride as he ran to where the gunshots were fired. If this was planned and if the assailants knew they were watching, he was sure Sakura and Ino would be hot targets; they had video footage; records of the incident.

Before he reached his destination, he pulled out his recon gear; throwing the eye-cam on the floor and stepping on it. He then proceeded to disconnect his mic and remove his ear piece; the girls were smart enough to come up with a story in case they were held up but if they were subjected to a search, they were pretty much screwed. Getting rid of communication was the only way for them to have an opportunity to weasel themselves out of discovery or at least, cause enough confusion for them to shoot the intruding party.

Sasuke caught sight of a panicked looking man with a very defined shape in his pocket, that could easily be a gun. He pulled the fleeing waiter and dragged him close enough to be able to ask him a question. "Who gave you the gun?" he asked quietly; his voice deep and menacing, a challenge for the layman to lie to him.

"I-I…don't know!" the man in white sputtered, sweat soaking his forehead and trickling down the side of his pasty face. Sasuke gave a feral growl. "What do you mean you don't know? The shots were fired a few seconds ago." Unless the man had the memory of a goldfish, he'd remember a face. The said man in his grip trembled and buckled under the pressure of the Uchiha's gaze.

His patience wearing thin, Sasuke's adjusted his grip on the shuddering man's uniform and banged the waiter against the wall. "You tell me what I need to know and I don't break your bones for assisting a criminal." A gurgle erupted from the man's throat when he was slammed hard against the wall. "I-I—he… They told me to shoot two shots between nine thirty five to nine forty or else he'd kill me."

Sasuke's eyes widened. It was a diversion; a signal.

And just as he put two and two together, another set of gunshots were fired.

_BANG_

_BANG_

"Tayuya." Sasuke whispered in slight panic.

* * *

Sakura zipped up her bags and ran to the door, Ino trailing behind her with her own share of bags. The Rosette twisted the knob and screamed in shock, dropping the bag to reach for her gun.

"Sakura, it's me." Ino breathed in a sigh of relief and adjusted the strap of her bag. "Kakashi! What took you so long?!" she heard Sakura yell as picked up the fallen bag only to have Kakashi snatch it from her once she had it back in her grip. Kakashi was clad in ANBU armor; the ones the organization made for the higher ranking officers. "Look at you, all dressed up." Ino mocked. "Let's go, we'll talk later." She heard Kakashi say before taking off.

The trio walked briskly to the nearest exit staircase, avoiding the elevator; in these situations, every convenient exit should be considered compromised. "Wait! We need to erase our trace from the hotel records."

Kakashi smiled through his mask and pushed the two girls out onto the staircase. "I got that covered. Now ladies, if you please, we have other agents down there." His deep voice was calm but were subtly laced with mild annoyance.

Sakura got the hint and pulled Ino down with her as she ran down the steps, her footsteps mixed with the blonde's echoing and bouncing against the cemented walls with every step they took. "Where's the car?" Sakura called out, glancing at Kakashi slightly before turning back to face the front—she had no intentions of falling.

"This staircase leads to a side-entrance, the car is waiting right outside." came his reply.

* * *

_9:50 pm, The Blue Fin's Back Exit _

Sasuke burst out of the door and scanned the vicinity; hoping to find any trace of his red-headed partner who'd gone off in pursuit of their supposedly unguarded target. Dark eyes saw nothing but dirty walls and three full dumpsters; no sign of Hitori Kyo or Tayuya.

Bright lights caught his eye and the Uchiha cast his gaze on a black car that pulled up next to him before diverting his attention back to scanning the dark alleyway. His ears picked up the sound of doors opening and closing. "Tayuya went after him." Sasuke said, glancing at Sakura who stood next to him. "We lost communication with her a few minutes after she'd followed him." His best friend put a hand on his shoulder. "She knows the meeting point. If she's not back in a few minutes, we'll send out an official search party. Kakashi and Ino are out looking for her now but we need to get the information to base before anything else" It was protocol, and though it went against every moral fiber in her to leave an agent, they had to make sure that the information was safe.

"It was a distraction." Sasuke told Sakura, his voice hard and clipped. He glanced at the door behind him and began walking to it; letting Sakura's hand fall from his shoulder at his sudden departure. Sakura watched Sasuke forcefully pull open the door and drag an unconscious man out, dropping what she presumed was a waiter, judging by his outfit, onto the filthy road.

The two looked at the passed out man in front of them; his head lolling to the side slightly at his awkward position. "Someone asked him to shoot." Sasuke said in annoyance before looking at Sakura. "I heard gunshots a few minutes after."

"But—

"I found her!" Ino yelled from the entrance of the alley. "She was in another alley not too far from here." She added, her eyes looking at Sasuke before turning to Sakura. "Kakashi's got her. She's bleeding heavily." Sasuke's head jerked up, taking in Tayuya's limp form; torn dress, dishevelled hair, bleeding wounds and all. "Sakura." He called his voice slightly pleading—though it was extremely subdued.

Sakura, forgetting her qualms about the red-head, reacted quickly and ran to Kakashi who'd walked in, carrying the half-awake girl bridal style. "Get her in the car, now. I have a medical kit in there." She said, her tone taking one of total seriousness as she ran to the car and opened its door to assist Kakashi. "How are her vitals?" she asked while Kakashi slid the girl inside carefully. "Her pulse is a little weak but it's there. The blood loss isn't that bad, either. Nothing vital was hit."

"That's good." Sakura mumbled, sliding into the car. There was absolutely nothing good about getting shot but, as far as getting shot goes, Tayuya's condition was considered 'good'; nothing vital was hit, not much bleeding. The medic opened her bag but closed it again. She slid to the door and stuck her head out of the door impatiently. "Oi, if you don't mind, I would like to get this girl to the hospital wing soon. There's only so much I can do in a _car_."

After her little remark Sasuke roughly shoved the unconscious waiter inside before sliding into the plush leather seats himself. "Yamanaka, take the front seat." The blonde who stood by the open door rolled her eyes at the blunt order. Where else would she sit—the roof? Keeping her remark to herself, knowing full-well that the Uchiha had a gun and would probably shoot her at his given disposition, Ino walked to the passenger's side of the car and got in the same time the silver-haired man did. "Do you have a gun on you?" he asked the blonde who shook her head in response.

Kakashi started the car but not before twisting to face the back seat and reach for Tayuya's gun holster. Ino wasn't packing heat and the silver-haired man wanted someone with a weapon next to him in case they were to get into a gun battle on the road. The half-awake red-head gave his hand a weak slap as if saying 'Don't touch my gun.' Her reaction caused him to recoil a little.

Kakashi gave Sasuke an annoyed glance before rolling his sole exposed eye. "Kids and their toys." He muttered quietly, returning to the normal sitting position. He shook his head slightly. Agents got too attached to their gun the same way kids did to their favourite toy; some childish habits never die. "Sasuke, lend Ino your gun." With a slight huff at his request, Sasuke reached forward and slapped his gun onto Ino's hand. "Bring your own gun next time, Yamanaka."

Ino clicked her tongue at Sasuke's moodiness making Kakashi smirk a little at the Uchiha's expense before he stepped on the gas. The black car jolted out of its stationary position and careened backwards and out onto the main road. He shifted the car to drive and sped off to the right at break-neck speed.

At the car's sudden acceleration, the man who'd been unconscious earlier awoke and blinked at Sakura. "Why hello…" he murmured sleepily, his head still on her shoulder. Sakura who was busy trying to stop Tayuya from losing more blood tried to ignore the man's flirtatious comment.

"I look better when I'm not in my uniform."

"Now would not be the time to start flirting with her." Sasuke warned, glaring at the sad excuse of a man beside him who was pressing up too much on Sakura for the Uchiha to be comfortable. "She has a gun." Kakashi added from the driver's seat, his tone too casual. The medic rolled her eyes and continued to apply pressure on Tayuya's wounds; said girl groaned a little when Sakura pressed a little too much.

"You people aren't very pleasant." The man retorted.

Sakura threw Sasuke an annoyed look, "How hard did you hit him?" The man was acting a loopy and it was getting on her nerves. She had a bleeding agent to tend to for crying out loud—one she hated, at that. "Look, _you_ got _his _girlfriend shot. I wouldn't be making smart comments at the moment." Sakura jerked her head to Sasuke and right after, to Tayuya to emphasize the connection between the two agents.

"I'd also appreciate it if you stopped leaning on _her_." Sasuke stated gruffly, yanking the waiter by his collar to sit in an upright position instead of leaning on Sakura. "I thought the redhead was your girlfriend."

"She is." Sakura grumbled harshly, avoiding Sasuke's exasperated look by switching the bloodied cloth in her hands with a cleaner one. "I'm sensing tension here." The employee mentioned, glancing from Sasuke to Sakura and then a slightly longer look at Tayuya.

"Sasuke." Sakura called out, her tone heavy with forced self-control.

"On it."

There was a sick sound of a fist hitting a jaw.

Green eyes silently chastised the young man who was smirking at his work. "You could've hit a pressure point instead. It'd knock him out just as well."

Sasuke responded by cracking his knuckles. "He _needed_ a punch in the face."

* * *

The team reached the ANBU headquarters quickly and were swiftly assisted by a flurry of nurses and some agents. Ino, upon the orders of Kakashi, took the nameless waiter to the interrogation unit while Sakura was whisked away by the nurses and was followed Sasuke.

Kakashi threw the keys at a junior agent before pulling one nurse aside and whispering a request in her ear.

X

_Main ANBU headquarters, Level three: Medical Unit_

The minute Sakura had successfully endorsed Tayuya to another medic, she was expected a little room to breathe before doing anything else. However, any prospects of a breather went out the window when a frantic nurse ran to her bearing bad news. "Haruno-san, someone's stolen another vial of that soldier serum."

Sakura let out a cross between a huff and a groan. Stupid trainees and their knack for going overboard on premeasures, the serum was to assist the agent in case something bad happens to them—not to make them invincible. "Do they think that stuff is going to stop them from dying?" she exclaimed, causing the poor nurse to jolt a little in surprise. "Be more vigilant during check-ups. I'll try to get the bottom of it as soon as possible." Right now she needed to just sit somewhere for five minutes.

Spotting a small bench-like chair that was against the wall; Sakura walked to it and ungracefully plopped down next to the sole occupant and let out a huff. "Scale of one to ten; ten being the highest. How fucked up was your day?" she asked.

Sasuke regarded her with a tired glance before answering. "Lost my target, fell for a distraction, my girlfriend got shot—screw ten, I give it a twenty."

"Got stuck with the boring part of the mission, lost the target, curious trainees are snagging soldier serum vials." _And I hate your girlfriend. _ Sakura responded, leaving the last bit out. "Twenty-one."

* * *

**LOVE IT**

**HATE IT**

**LET ME KNOW**

_I seriously need to plan out this story on paper…. The hard part of CIA stories is making the whole 'event leads to other event that was secretly done during the last even' kind of feel. Go me. Anyway, this will probably be my last update for March. It's time to get serious for my ballet exams._

_Written at 3:00 am, sorry for typos._


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys. What's up? So I found some free time and wanted to update this because I need comedic therapy and 'Altered' is a bit dramatic so I turned to this. I'm still having a difficult time in trying to map this out so this tends to be in my mind a lot more lately.

**Reviews give you better chapters. Thank you to all the constant reviewers and new ones. **

**Read and Review**

Chapter 3: Walking In On Trouble

* * *

_Two days after botched mission. 6 o 'clock p.m. Main ANBU headquarters, Level eight: Hatake Kakashi's Office_

A woman in a clean crisp medical uniform walked into the room and went straight towards the black desk that was littered with files and papers, situated near the black wall; behind it, a man with spiky silver hair who regarded her with a questioning stare, his sole exposed eye harbouring a silent question.

The surprise guest laid down a small zip-lock bag and stepped back. "Your request," at her statement, the man's eyes brightened in recognition; picking up the item and examining it quickly before flicking his gaze to the woman in front of him. "Ah. Thank you."

* * *

_6:00 PM. Location: Apartment 30-B, Floor 6, Gold Leaf Apartments: Uchiha Sasuke's Unit._

"You traded a penthouse for _this_?" Tayuya asked incredulously as her eyes veered around the apartment in quiet shock. Well it wasn't ugly; that's for sure. It was still a unit in Gold Leaf—one of Konoha's exclusive housing buildings. But it just wasn't a penthouse.

The flat was a wide square, whose walls were painted a deep shade of blue and panelled with black wood at the bottom, with a hallway on the right that led to two guestrooms, one master bedroom and a bathroom.

A kitchen with a bar-topped counter complete with stools was stationed at the far back of the room; its chrome appliances glinting due to the many lights that littered the ceiling. There was no dining table, so the rest of the space was mainly the living room; though aside from the usual living room furniture, there was a long book shelf in the corner and some exercise equipment scattered here and there.

A long Italian leather black couch stretched out in the middle of the room, a flat-screen TV hung on the wall adjacent to the couch and the chrome coffee table. Tayuya set her bag down on the table near the door that housed many files in its drawers and went to sit on the couch; leaning comfortably against the plush yet somewhat stiff backrest.

"Too flashy." Sasuke mumbled, joining his girlfriend on the couch and glancing at her. "How are you feeling?" he asked monotonously as he reached for the remote. "Like I've been shot." Tayuya answered sarcastically while throwing a look just below the junction of her shoulder and arm; where she was shot. "Was able to be let out early as long as I turn up for constant check-ups," she brushed the spot lightly before turning back to a smirking Sasuke who handed her the remote. "They can't seem to keep agents in hospitals."

It was true. Every nurse and doctor in the Medical Unit all say that agents never really stick around in the hospital wing unless forced to. It had something to do with their psychology; Ino says agents didn't like thinking much about their mortality seeing as they risk their lives for every mission. Tayuya grabbed the remote and grinned cockily. "We've all been through much worse on the field and survived. Remember Kirigakure?" Sasuke nodded. "You were banged up pretty badly."

"But I still finished the mission anyway and came back fine; of course, with some slight medical conditions but fine nonetheless." Tayuya laughed and punched Sasuke lightly with her good arm. "Hey, heard we got a witness." She'd been informed of the mission's failure the moment she had woken up in the hospital room. However, it wasn't completely lost. They'd gotten a witness and though he was just a waiter, it was still better than nothing.

Sasuke let out a cross between a snort and a scoff. "We have him in the interrogation unit, Ino's handling him." The thought of the bumbling waiter ticked him off to no end. Sasuke didn't know if it was the person he found annoying or the fact that he was fooled by a man who could barely conceal a gun.

"Anything new on the case?" the girl questioned casually as she flipped through the many channels in hopes of finding something decent to watch on a Friday night.

"Not yet, but we'll be notified if there is a breakthrough." Sasuke answered absently. "Keep it there." He said quickly when Tayuya happened to pause in a channel that showed some arrogant looking chef making a complicated dish that involved an absurd amount of tomatoes. The red-head rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's strange addiction to the fruit and was about to remark on it but was cut off by a knock on the door.

She raised her eyebrow and flicked a glance at the door. "Expecting anyone?" Sasuke stood and cautiously walked to the door. One could never be too sure when you worked for an organization like ANBU.

With a hand on his doorknob and another on his gun that he picked up from the table, Sasuke swung the door open.

Tayuya, who'd sat up to get a better view of the guest, let out an annoyed growl. Dark eyes widened, Sasuke put the hand that held the gun that was half-raised, down and opened the door wider for the surprise guest that was standing in his door way—smiling.

"Sakura." He greeted, making his way back to the couch but stopping to stand beside her instead. "Hey, Sasuke-kun,"

"You should've shot her." Tayuya grumbled.

Tayuya's loud and annoyance-laced voice reverberated throughout the room. Sakura's shocked eyes flickered to Tayuya before her mouth went slack at the sight of the female embodiment of a demon straight from hell. "You're here…" she whispered angrily, crossing her arms and glaring at the female who was comfortably lounging on Sasuke's couch. Tayuya grinned and twiddled her fingers at Sakura. "Yo."

Mocking brown eyes met annoyed green ones and the instant the connection was made, a glaring competition ensued between the two headstrong young women. Sasuke watched from the side as the two girls glared at one another and were probably itching to have a go at each other.

Setting his gun down a good distance away from the rosette, Sasuke directed his irked gaze to Sakura. "What are you doing here, Sakura?" Sasuke asked; more annoyed that the two were still not getting along than Sakura intruding on their date.

"Yeah, Haruno, what are you doing here?" Tayuya sneered, echoing Sasuke's question to the rosette that stood before them looking outraged and slightly embarrassed. A blush began to slowly creep onto Sakura's cheeks and the more the two stared at her, the more prominent the blush became. There she was, in a black sweatshirt, jeans and a pair of sneakers looking like an idiot in front of Sasuke who was dressed to the nines and, even worse, Tayuya who looked equally as good in a white button up 3/4th sleeved blouse, black leather shorts and four inch knee-high black boots.

There was only so much a sweatshirt could do for your figure. Sakura hated to admit it but, Tayuya won this round.

Sakura's eyes screamed anger when she looked at Sasuke who stood next to her in the most insouciant of manners. He forgot what tonight was. He _forgot _and had made plans for something else without bothering to call her ahead of time to cancel. "Friday is movie night, asshole." She grit out, hands clenching at her sides as she regarded the Uchiha with a stare that rivalled his own when angry.

The only male in the room dropped his gaze to what Sakura was holding; a bunch of DvD's and a bag of assorted junk food. A thought dawned on him and the stoic young man slapped himself mentally at his lapse of intelligence. How could he forget the long-standing tradition he and Sakura had?

"You should've called and cancelled if you were planning to hang out with her." He heard Sakura say before she dropped her tone to a muted grumble. Although being trained as an ANBU agent, he picked up a few words that rang along the lines of: 'Jerk', 'Inconsiderate' and the crowd favourite: 'Teme'

The rosette turned around quickly and opened the door, ready to depart from the party she clearly wasn't invited to; this course of action made the redhead on the couch silently purr in delight.

Before he knew it, Sasuke's hand shot out and latched on to the exiting girl's slim wrist. Sakura half-turned and shot him an annoyed look; her features contorting even more when Sasuke refused to let go. "If you're going to tell me to leave the food, it's a no. Buy your own—

"Stay."

That was a shocker.

"What?!" The two girls bellowed loudly, looking at Sasuke as if he confessed to eating unicorns. Tayuya who'd shot up from the couch crossed her arms roughly and winced a little when the sudden movement made her wound sting. Was he seriously going to let the annoying pink fuzz crash their date? She was already leaving! He didn't have to stop her.

The same thoughts echoed through Sakura's mind. There was no way she was going to be a third wheel for this couple. If she had to watch them make out she'd most likely be scarred for life, and that's saying something—she has seen guts spill out of bodies, bullet wounds, corpses—you name it, she's seen it. But if these two decided to get it on, Sakura was going to snap.

In a sad attempt to keep her from staying for the love fest she fully resolved to avoid, Sakura looked down at her bag of assorted junk food and decided that she'd sacrifice her potato chips for her sanity. "You know, you can keep the food I—

Sasuke cut Sakura's sad excuse of an argument off by pulling her back inside his apartment and shutting the door behind him. The man towered over her and stifled her compliant with a stern look. "I said _stay._" The two girls had to get used to each other at some point and if it meant that he had to keep them in a room together frequently, he'd do it; because he'd be damned if he had to hang out with them separately—they were past this silly teenage drama. He was not going to choose between his best friend and girlfriend.

Tayuya fell back on the couch with a defeated sigh and crossed her fit legs, her eyes were now glued to the television in a desperate attempt to ignore the newcomer and her boyfriend altogether. Tonight was supposed to be a just the two of them, not the two of them plus _one. _

Sakura was ushered by the Uchiha to take a seat on the couch. Sasuke pushed her down to take a seat next to Tayuya whose face contorted in disgust when the rosette invaded her personal space. Annoyed by the fact that he had to play host to two girls who refused to get along, Sasuke let out a string of silent curses and shuffled through the movies that Sakura brought over, "Any ideas on what you guys want to watch?" he asked the two young women who were seated stiffly on the couch; glaring at him.

"Someone with _pink _hair getting shoved out the window."

Not one to be threatened, Sakura fixed Tayuya a dirty look before retaliating "A redhead get shot." Tayuya glared and pointed to the spot where the bullets had hit her. "Already been done, darling." Sakura returned the hostile glare. "Right through the skull, this time."

Sasuke sighed and put in a random movie. Did he hide all his weapons? He did a mental checklist of all the possible tools that the girls could use to kill each other and grunted when he was assured that none of his weapons were laid out in the open; the girls shouldn't be tempted. The gun he had earlier caught his eye and the Uchiha quickly walked to the table and took the gun, placing it inside a small safe in his room before coming back out to join the two girls on the couch.

He frowned when he noticed the noticeable gap between the two that had not been there before he left to put his gun in his room.

Sasuke, deciding to let it slide, dimmed the lights, and sat down just in time to see the beginning of the movie.

"The Notebook?! What the fuck?"

* * *

_Approximately one hour into movie. 7: 00 PM_

_And Noah and Al—_

"The fuck is this movie?" Tayuya grumbled, tossing a few pieces of popcorn into her mouth and crushing the snack as she chewed in agitation. It was horribly sappy and was impossible to watch without getting the urge to vomit. "How can you stand to watch this?" she asked Sasuke who shrugged and bit into his tomato. Sakura glared at her from her side of the couch. "I guess you can't relate to anything about love." She remarked.

Tayuya smirked and gave Sakura a look. "Says the girl who's single." Her smirk widened to a grin when she saw Sakura stiffen noticeably. "And might I remind you, you're crashing a date—that doesn't exactly scream romantic."

"Tayuya." Sasuke stated, his deep baritone issuing a warning to the redhead who was crossing a line. He was the one who made Sakura stay. The addressed young woman leaned back onto the backrest angrily. "What?! This movie sucks!"

Sakura sat up and shot Tayuya a look of utter distaste and pointed at the door. "Shut up. There's the door, you're free to leave."

Well there's a thought. Tayuya stood up and walked over to Sasuke. "I'll call you later. I can't take _it_" she said quietly before kissing him on the cheek; a scene Sakura tried to ignore. Sasuke stood up and walked her to the door while offering to change the movie. "Nah, I have some stuff to do anyway." She said, brushing his suggestion aside while grabbing her bag. It wasn't the movie she was referring to.

Sasuke held the door open for her and slipped a hand on her waist to twist her around to face him. His lips brushed hers lightly earning a small smirk from the red head. "See ya, Uchiha." She grinned and sauntered out of the room, not bothering to say goodbye to the other person in the room.

Sakura's head lolled to the side as she eyed Sasuke, her expression one of mockery. "Developing a romantic side, Sasuke-kun?" she teased, watching the Uchiha glare at her. "With the amount of sappy movies you make me watch, it's bound to happen."

The rosette flicked her hand as if to dismiss Sasuke's sarcastic jab and paused the movie. "Hey I didn't mean to make her leave." Honestly, she didn't. She liked that the redhead left but it wasn't her intention to actually kick the girl out of the apartment. What she said was a mere expression that the other seemed to have taken literally.

The Uchiha shrugged. And leaned into the couch situating his body to a more comfortable position, "Hey Sasuke?" the young man looked at the rosette who'd timidly called his name. Sakura bit her lip nervously and thought twice about what she was going to say. The guy next to her wasn't exactly one for sentimentality. Her eyes slowly crept up to meet Sasuke's. "Uh, Thanks for making me stay."

Sasuke let out a breath that sounded like a laugh and smirked. "Hn." He mumbled before ruffling her hair and putting her head on his shoulder; it was something he knew she liked. Sakura had a habit of using him as pillow, the same way he had a habit of ruffling her hair. The two were close; always had each other's backs but were complete opposites. Usually it was Naruto and Sakura that got along in the emotional front and often fought because of it but Sasuke; he was the reserved one who only showed hints of what he felt—But whatever he lacked in words and facial expressions, he made up for in actions.

He heard her sigh in content as she un-paused the movie; the scene before them, spring back to life. His gaze travelled down to Sakura and he watched her intently as she engulfed herself in the movie. Having one of his best friends hate someone he was dating was going to be hard. But he was going to make this work—he had to.

* * *

X

"Did you get it?"

There was a faint shuffling before the voice on the other line piped up and answer. "Yes, I did. But I barely escaped. I managed to get a couple of shots in but it'll be a lot tighter next time."

The voice on the other line laughed. "Do not fret. The plan is in action. If all goes according to plan, there won't be a next time. Now, take care of that errand."

X

* * *

_11:00 PM, MAIN ANBU HEADQUARTERS, Underground level 1: Senior agent's floor. Room 4: Lounge_

Uzumaki Naruto's head was buried under a soft throw pillow as he snoozed on one of the many couches in the lounge. He'd been requested to pull an all-nighter by Tsunade and had fallen asleep while waiting to be paged. Usually, agents were provided with rooms termed the 'knock-out cell' by many seasoned agents because it was where agents could sleep and rest if they were required to stay within the headquarters; similar to the rooms hospitals had for surgeons when they were on call for the whole day.

It wasn't just the senior agents and officers that had them; even junior agents and trainees had them but were found in their own respective floors. Most of the time senior agents and officers frequent each other's floors and used each other's 'knock-out cells', but the juniors and trainees weren't allowed on the higher-ranking agents' floors due to the tension between the more seasoned agents and the newer ones.

The underground levels were strictly for seniors and officers only, unless given permission by someone in authority, no one was allowed to enter. These lower-levels were where interrogations happened and most weaponry was stored. The lab and weapons development wing were also found on one of these levels. ANBU captains were usually found frequenting in these levels.

So when a junior agent shook Naruto awake, the blonde's eyebrows shot up despite his sleepy demeanour. "What're you doing underground? Junior agents and trainees are not supposed to be here, your floor is up there." Naruto pointed upwards to prove his point.

The junior agent's tone was rushed and urgent. "I was sent by Hyuuga-san to fetch you, Uzumak-san. You are wanted in the Intel division" At this the blonde broke from his sleepy disposition and pondered on why an ANBU captain wanted him this urgently—on intel no less. He stumbled out of the sofa and stretched out his long limbs before walking quickly to the exit. "Oi, follow me. You don't get to stick around here." Naruto grinned when the agent grumbled before he followed him out of the room.

* * *

_Floor eight: Intel Wing_

"About time, Uzumaki." Hyuuga Neji stated when the blonde walked in and took a seat next to TenTen who was eyeing a picture on the monitor intensely. "What'd you call me here for?" Naruto asked.

Neji threw a folder which Naruto caught easily. "Read. You're being assigned on this mission." Neji answered and waited patiently for the blonde to finish reading the file. When the younger agent raised his blue eyes to meet his pearly-white ones, Neji spoke. "Dead bodies have been turning up lately and all of them have one thing in common—they're all deformed."

TenTen looked up from the screen. "I don't know why you called for a ballistics and weapons expert, Neji." Her eyebrows furrowed as she glanced at the screen again. "From the looks of these reports and pictures, it seems as if it was something internal that caused their deaths." She couldn't see any proof of any foreign object that could have caused the deaths of these victims. She'd have to see the bodies to make sure nothing was missed. "These were the reports given. Those CSI people have done everything—call them and see if you can take a peek at those bodies." TenTen heard the captain say.

Neji let out a breath and turned to Naruto. "These victims were also victims of kidnap. Whoever our killer is, he's behind the kidnapping sprees that sprouted a few months ago. And lately, he's been switching to higher targets" The brunette tapped a few names on the file that Naruto had in his grip. Blue eyes followed Neji's finger and widened when he read the new names listed on the file.

"He's targeting ANBU agents?"

* * *

_1:00 AM, Underground Level 1: Knock out cell 2_

Yamanaka Ino's phone beeped to life, filling the previously quiet room with a shrill ringing sound that started emitting from the small rectangular device. The sleeping girl jolted up and angrily grabbed the noisy device, muttering a few curses before putting the phone to her ear. "What is it?" she croaked; her voice still rough and raspy from sleep.

Her eyelids began to drop as she listened to the person on the phone yap nervously. Slapping herself for being lazy, Ino rubbed the sleep from her eyes and cleared her throat. 'I'm sorry. Say that again" she mumbled, swinging her long legs out of the bed.

She listened intently to the agent on the other line, this time with her full attention and when the agent had finally stopped talking, Ino's shoulders had completely stiffened and her eyes had taken on a look of pure panic and shock.

"What do you mean he was shot?!"

* * *

Kind of short, I know. But I updated, right? Go me! Hey guys, check out my story 'Altered' hahaha anyway hope you guys liked it. This was another late-night chapter.

**LOVE IT?**

**HATE IT?**

**LET ME KNOW**

** .REVIEW. (better chapters if you do—I thrive on your reviews)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Guess what? My brother went out of town for vacay and I'm here at him. Ok, I do have an exam but still….The sun! The sand—the BEACH =( Here's my first update on this story for April.**

**Reviews make me happy. Happy author makes wonderful chapters.**

**THANKS FOR ALL THOSE REVIEWS. Keep 'em coming. **

Chapter 4: Sparkles and Bullets

* * *

Sasuke woke up to a vision of pink shoved into his line of sight. He blinked away the sleep from his dark eyes and pushed himself up from his previous position. A quick flick of his eyes to the DVD player told him that both he and Sakura had fallen asleep during the movie. Well it was boring after all, Sasuke wasn't at all surprised.

"Sakura," He murmured quietly to the girl whose head was on his lap.

"Mmm." She groaned in response at Sasuke's prodding. "It's eleven in the morning." He added, checking his watch as he addressed her. Sakura let out an unladylike snort and flipped to her other side. "We don't report 'til four."

They've been given a little time off to gather their bearings before picking the mission apart and identifying where they went wrong. "You mean to say, you aren't hungry?" he asked, smirking at her reaction.

The rosette cracked an eye open and readied a snarky reply when a knock on the door interrupted her still sleepy train of thought. Sasuke lifted her head gently and placed atop a pillow before getting up to answer the door. "If it's Tayuya, tell her I'm still here and I have a grenade." She grumbled before shoving her head into the pillow; face down.

A tired Sasuke flipped the locks and opened the door. "Yo, teme!" Naruto's loud voice greeted from the door way. Sasuke heaved a sigh and opened the door wider for the blonde to enter. Naruto peered over the couch and cracked a grin. "Messing around with two ladies, eh?" he teased, wiggling his eyebrows at Sasuke in a foxy manner.

Sakura jumped from her position on the couch and tackled Naruto. "What's up, Uzumaki!" she yelled, fully trusting that Naruto would catch her; he did.

"Hey, Sakura-chan! How was movie night?" he asked politely, putting her back down on the couch and plopping down next to her. The only female in the room let out an odd sound at the back of her throat. "Why don't you ask lover boy over there."

Sasuke rolled his eyes at her antics and crossed the apartment to a nearby telephone. He picked up the phone and dialled Tayuya's number. "I bet he's calling Tayuya to apologize for _me _barging in." Sakura told Naruto in a tone full of annoyance.

After continuous rings and no answer, Sasuke figured that the red head was still mad at him and decided to give her some space. He put down the phone and joined his two best friends on the couch. "So," Naruto started, hoping to divert a brewing argument between the Uchiha and Sakura. "What were you two assigned?"

"Recon. You?" Sasuke muttered.

"Tracking."

They all let out a sigh at the lack of excitement in their missions at the moment. Sasuke and Sakura just botched theirs and Naruto's assignment was a little 'dead', no pun intended; there was absolutely no way ID the actual cause of death.

Sakura's ears picked up a muted ringing and elbowed Naruto on the shoulder. "Your phone's ringing." The blonde male patted his pockets to look for his phone and pulled out the violently ringing phone. "Yo." He answered seriously and listened to the ANBU captain on the line, giving Sasuke and Sakura a small and worrired smile before shutting his phone, shoving it back into his back pocket as he stood up. "Gotta go. I've got to head over to the CSI lab to check out a body."

The blonde was by the door, ready to leave when Sasuke smirked and put his feet on the coffee table. "Have fun." He joked earning a chuckle from Sakura. "Try to hold down your breakfast." Naruto's first exposure to an autopsy was quite a messy affair; the blonde had turned a scary shade of green as the doctor picked at a dead man's brain. He's been avoiding them ever since.

"Shut up." Naruto grumbled before slamming the door shut. Sakura laughed at the blonde's nervous reaction and looked at Sasuke. "Ten bucks says he'll vomit on the doctor." The Uchiha lifted a brow and gave her a condescending look, she returned his expression with a playful glare.

"Ten buck says he'll skip out and have a junior do it." Sasuke stated, taking her offered hand and giving it a firm shake. "We're such horrible people." Sakura muttered, earning a shrug from Sasuke. "We've done worse." He said, standing up and walking to the kitchen.

The young man ruffled through his cupboards, shelves and fridge before letting out a frustrated grumble. "There's no food, let's go out for lunch." He stated, leaving no room for Sakura to decline; but she did anyway. "Why don't you ask Tayuya to accompany you." The Uchiha rolled his eyes. "I'm inviting _you_ out, Sakura." He said to back himself up, not liking where the conversation was heading. "There's an extra toothbrush in the bathroom and the clothes you left last week are in the guest room's closet. Get ready."

"Bossy, aren't we, Uchiha?"

"I'm hungry."

And that was all Sakura needed to get her ass out of the couch and run to the bathroom.

* * *

"I thought we were here for lunch!" Sakura yelled aloud when Sasuke pulled her into jewellery store. This time it was a swankier than the other two they were previously in. It had a huge glittering chandelier that looked like it was made of diamonds as well (Sakura hoped it wasn't; overkill much?) it's shinning baubles dangling over them like strands of stars. The store was filled with glass cases containing every jewel a woman knew of—and even some rare and unheard of gems that glittered with mystery behind the delicate glass.

"This is the last one. After this, we'll eat, you're choice." Sasuke said quickly, patting her head softly and walking to an attendant clothed in Armani who was patiently waiting for Sasuke. "Look around." He added half-heartedly.

"Look around." Sakura mimicked while scrunching up her face. "For _what_?!" It's not like she could afford the stuff here. In the first store, maybe, but here? Yeah she'd end up without food and a home for half a year if she bought a ring. The rosette rolled her eyes at Sasuke who was examining a white gold necklace that looked like a diamond mine exploded all over it. It wasn't like she was poor or anything. She'd amassed an adequate amount of wealth but she wasn't crazy rich like some people she knew; Sakura through another glance at Sasuke.

She wandered around the store, flicking absentminded glances towards the glass cases, already assured that she wouldn't like anything in this overly high-end store. "Can I help you, madam?" a snooty looking attendant asked with a judging gaze. "No, I'm fine. Thanks."

"Letting the boyfriend do all the work, eh?" he asked cheekily while throwing Sasuke a glance. "Excellent catch." Sakura blinked rapidly at the attendants false assumptions on her relationship with Sasuke. She was about to correct the painfully mistaken man but one glance at those beady eyes told to just ride the wave. He looked like the type of person who'd throw her out.

And so with a little girl flourish, she flicked her hair and laughed airily. "I _know_. Ugh, these things are just too stressful for me, I'd rather he do it." Well, it wasn't exactly a lie. In fact it was one hundred percent truth. It was just the way she said it that gave the attendant a different impression.

"I'll leave you to your browsing then." He stated casually, bowing a little bit before stalking off towards another customer.

The minute he left her line of vision, Sakura dropped the act and ambled over to another glass case. This time, she took the patience to actually look at the pieces and was surprised to find that she really liked one pair of earrings; they were they white gold drop earrings that were at least and inch and a half long, with a pink diamond at the bottom of each earring. The base of the earring also had a pink diamond but instead of a big cut like the bottom, it was a smaller size.

Sakura didn't speak jewellery but she was pretty sure that the karats on these pair of earrings outdid most of the earrings she saw in the other two stores; which meant she _couldn't _buy them. She touched the glass case longingly and sighed sadly. "Those are pretty." She heard Sasuke say.

"Yeah, but crazy expensive." She countered, looking at him and down to the classy bag that he held in one hand. "Save up for it." Sasuke offered.

The girl next to him grinned. "Nah, I'll live without 'em." She didn't need much bling and ice. But it's not like she didn't have her own collection; she had quite a few pieces. It's just that she didn't really make it a point to collect them. "Hold on, did you just say the word 'pretty'?" she exclaimed with a chuckle at the end of her statement. "Let's go." Sasuke said while glaring at her, grabbing her hand a leading her at the store. "Hey, wait we're supposed to act sweet! They think we're dating!" Sakura whispered harshly before letting out a soft giggle for show. "Thank you, Sasu-kun!"

'Sasu-kun' looked at her with a weird twitch in his left eye. "Just. Go. With. It." Whispered the girl beside him. "Hn." he replied as he threw an arm around her casually, making the pink haired girl blush and a couple of female attendants go 'aaww'

Upon reaching the door, Sakura assumed that the Uchiha would drop his arm from around her to open the door. But alas, he kept his lean arm wrapped around her as he pushed the door open with his free hand. Sakura's eyes wandered to his face then to his dark eyes that flicked towards her own green eyes. Sasuke smirked at her before breaking the stare and leading them away from the jewellery shop.

* * *

The two walked until they were quite a distance away from the shop. "Ah, it's good to breathe in some good 'ol middle class air!" Sakura exclaimed, taking in a deep breath to prove her point. "I was beginning to think they were going to charge me for breathing in there! What'd you buy and which organ would you have to sell to regain the money you lost?"

The two had gone to a different building; Golden Fire Grove had two parts, the high-end part, where the duo were in a few minute ago, and the much more affordable part where the middle class and fairly rich usually went. "Got her a necklace."

"Please don't tell me it's the one that looked like a waterfall of diamonds." Sakura pleaded. "That's wa-ay too much." She explained, cutting the word 'way' into two parts for emphasis. It was really pretty but then when would anyone ever use it? Well they could break it out for parties and galas but those events don't' exactly happen often unless you were part of a clan as powerful as the Uchiha clan and others like: Hyuga and Uzumaki.

Tayuya wasn't even part of a clan. And she was most definitely not going to be part of one anytime soon; well Sakura _hoped_ not. "A black diamond choker." Sasuke said in answer to her question.

Sakura whistled. "Sounds like something up her alley. You still didn't tell me which organ you were going to sell though."

Sasuke smirked at her. "None, but I'm considering selling you as a slave instead." The Uchiha watched her mouth clamp shut at his remark and he smirked even more. Two could play at this game.

"Touché." Sakura grumbled as she crossed her arms. "Although, if you do try to ship me to some foreign country on those terms, I'm going to smoke your ass."

* * *

_ANBU HEADQUARTERS: UNDERGROUND LEVEL 1_

"Get me Kakashi." Ino yelled at a passing agent who'd jumped and scurried away at her order. The blonde watched him go. "And tell him it's urgent!" she added before walking towards another set of elevators that would take her to the lower levels.

She's been awake since the early morning, trying to get things settled down; which they weren't. One problem lead to the next and before she knew it, Ino's day had just taken a turn for the worst. This wasn't supposed to happen.

The quite '_ting' _sound of the elevator arriving on her floor made Ino jump up a little; she was edgy today—and for a good reason. "He was shot." Ino repeated to herself as she entered the elevator, punching the floor's number and watched the metallic doors slide close.

"And now he's dead."

* * *

It was a blissful silence that encompassed the two as they quietly ate their meals. Sakura lead them to a quaint little restaurant that overlooked the open-air walk in between the mall's two buildings. It was secluded enough for them to feel comfortable discussing private matters.

"So…You and—uhm… Tayuya are getting pretty serious, huh?" Sakura stammered as she broke the silence while eyeing the bag that held the expensive diamond choker that Sasuke had gotten for the aforementioned redhead. She's been trying to word the statement ever since their orders arrived but withheld comment due to the risk of sounding too nosy.

It took a few couples strolling by for Sakura to just think 'fuck it'; she might as well get it over it now than sounding like a fool for bringing it up later.

The man seated in front of her played with his glass a little; rotating the goblet but rolling it's stem on the pads of his long fingers. His dark eyes didn't meet her green ones when he answered. "What makes you say that?"

The young woman gave him an incredulous look. "You just bought her a diamond necklace. What other form of proof do you need?" Sasuke rolled his eyes and chose not to respond. "Besides," Sakura continued.

"I know when you care. And you _do._" Much to her disdain, this fact was true; Sasuke wouldn't go through the trouble of getting someone a peace offering, let alone one that cost an arm and a leg, if he didn't think the person held any value to him. She stared at the Uchiha relentlessly. "Whatever floats your boat, Sakura." Came Sasuke's reply before giving her no room to speak. "Can we drop this?" the rosette glared at him. "You know, I only want what's best for you."

"And hating my girlfriend is good for me how?" Sakura flinched at the low blow. It wasn't as if Tayuya was an angel to her; the vindictive fox was the one who treated her like dirt during their first meeting—she too, didn't give any signs of showing any warmness towards her at all; at least Sakura tried, Tayuya didn't at all.

And yet, here Sasuke was, buying Tayuya jewelry. "She's important to you, I get it." Sasuke gave her a heated look.

"Okay then." She said quietly, dragging out the first word to drown out the tense feeling that seemed suspended in the air. Sakura squashed down the feeling of hurt that bubbled at the surface and looked for something to distract her.

Sakura checked her watch and nearly spilled her lemon tea all over her half-finished plate of poached salmon. "How long does it take to get from here to HQ?" she asked in a panic, looking at Sasuke with urgency.

He thought for a while and did a mental estimation. "About twenty minutes." He answered, forking another mouthful of steak into his mouth. Dark eyes questioned her silently as he chewed the tender piece of meat slowly.

"Well, we then we have ten minutes to start walking to the car." Sakura showed Sasuke her watch. "Grab the bill and let's go." She ordered. Sasuke nodded and signalled for their waiter to hand them the bill. Soon a young man scuttled over and handed Sasuke a silver tray containing their bill.

Sakura watched the Uchiha scan the bill and redid the calculations in his head before slapping down an wad of bills and standing up. "Keep the change."

"But sir it's way—

"We're in a hurry and I don't have the exact amount." Sasuke answered while helping Sakura out of her seat. Once she was up, he grabbed her hand and strode quickly to the exit.

The two exited out into the main hall way that connected the two mall buildings together. Sasuke stopped walking and tossed Sakura the keys to the car. "I have to use the bathroom." He muttered. "Wait for me in the car."

The young woman watched Sasuke walk away in a hastened pace. "Jeez, he has the worst timing." She grumbled to herself before walking towards the escalators that would take her to the underground parking area.

* * *

Sakura jolted out of her reverie when Sasuke tapped on the car's window for her to unlock the door. Once he was in, Sakura pointed to the keys that were already in the ignition. "We have fifteen minutes." Came her quiet voice.

Sasuke nodded and zoomed out of the parking lot.

During the drive, Sakura kept to herself; not really sure if she should talk to the Uchiha after his little remark during lunch, she didn't exactly want to be a punching bag right now and that comment he made actually stung her a lot more than she expected.

Sasuke noticed her lack of conversational topics and began to flick covert glances at Sakura who'd taken to just staring out the window with her hand on her lap. "You okay?" he asked after a few minutes of silence; not really sure why he felt so heavy.

"Uh yeah, I'm just, y'know…" Sakura trailed off, struggling for an excuse. "I hope we're not late." She finished lamely, dropping her gaze to her shoes.

"We won't, Sak." Sasuke reassured, not believing her response one bit but deciding to just flow with it. He was pretty sure what he said earlier had been responsible for the way she was acting now. Sasuke sighed mentally. The comment had just come out of nowhere and somehow managed to sneak out off his mouth.

Just great, now he had two upset women to deal with after a botched mission.

He watched the city blur past him in a sea of gray as he sped towards HQ in a speed unrivalled by anyone but his brother. The traffic was surprisingly non-existent today, knocking off ten minutes of travel time. Soon, Sasuke was pulling up in front of the headquarter's secret entrances and entering a code that would allow him access to the parking space.

"We've got five minutes until we report." Sakura said, clicking off her seatbelt's buckle and getting out of the car. Sasuke followed suit and clicked the car's remote to lock it. "I'll give this to Tayuya and meet you in Kakashi's office." He said, waiting for Sakura's response.

The young agent nodded and began to walk away. "Sakura," Sasuke called from his spot. Sakura turned around and reflexively caught something that was thrown at her. Her green eyes looked at Sasuke, silently asking what it was. "Open it." He said before turning around and walking the opposite direction as he muttered something to her.

Sakura flipped open the black box and nearly dropped the package from shock. Inside the ornately designed box were the earrings she'd been staring at in the jewellery store. The diamonds glittered beautifully despite the dimly lit basement, Sakura couldn't help but smile at them adoringly as she replayed what Sasuke had said to her while he walked into headquarters. _"She's not the only one."_

The rosette grinned. Tayuya may be dating Sasuke but it didn't change the fact that she was just as important to Sasuke.

* * *

When Sakura entered the building, three agents flocked her all at once. "Haruno-san, Hatake-san and Yamanka-san are waiting for you in the underground levels." Said a female agent then followed by a male. "Uchiha-san is on his way there too."

Sakura nodded and was about to ask which floor they were in when the third agent piped up. "Interrogation wing,"

With that final piece of information, the ANBU agent strode to the elevators and tapped on the down button repeatedly. Once she was in, she pressed U1 which stood for underground level 1. There she would have to transfer elevators since this one only went as far as level 1. "_Identification, please. If you are a junior agent, type in the authorization code."_ A computer screen and a keyboard with a card slot came out from one of the walls. Sakura took her I.D. card and swiped it in. _"Agent Haruno Sakura, Senior agent." _A scanner from above scanned her body. _"Verified. Proceeding to U1" _

Sakura bolted out the doors the moment it opened and ran to the next elevator. She quickly pressed the button and entered the box when the doors slid open. She opened the mini-computer that slid out. _"Please place your senior I.D. code." _ Came the same female robotic voice, this time, not addressing any junior agents. Level one was as far as they could go, if they did have to go lower, there was a special computer on the other side of the elevator's wall for them to use.

Level five was where the interrogation wing was and the elevator quickly dropped down and opened at the specified floor. As soon as the doors slid open, Sakura was met by the three people she was supposed to see.

"Sakura," Ino called, pulling her out of the elevator and leading her through a sea of doors and hallways to a specific holding cell. "Our witness is dead." The room had become tense and quiet. No one expected their only witness to be shot in their own base while be housed in a watched wing with security monitoring every movement.

"What?!" Sakura yelled. How did this happen? He was in U5 the whole time, it was impossible; unreal. "Inside job." Sasuke stated darkly, looking around the room. But who did it? And how were they able to baffle the guards _and _not get recognized by the system.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the chair that where the nameless waiter had occupied. "So the idiot did know something."

* * *

**LOVE IT?**

**HATE IT?**

**LET ME KNOW.**

**.REVIEW.**

**Next week is my crunch week since the exam is so fucking near! Oh my God. 0_o so no updates until after the 20****th**** of April. **

**Oh and check out my story Altered. It's still SASUSAKU but it isn't AU. =)**


	5. Chapter 5

**XXX You may skip the entry below this if you wish XX**

Mini Rant (SPOILERS on 631 and on Clockwork Princesss) SASUKE WANTS TO BE HOKAGE NOW?! AAAGGGHH…..Bipolar Person of doom and confusion. I've just reached a point wherein everything I'm reading has turned me into a mess of emotions. MY HYPOTHALAMUS CANNOT take this kind of torture. First, it was regarding the Jem-Tessa-Will love triangle…I can usually pick a side so easily but with this one, I can't! I love them both! And I do not hate Tessa for loving both of them….Damn it Cassandra! You've written them so well, I might as well just cry for years over how sad I will be over Jem's death even though I'm happy about Tessa and Will. And now adding to my emotional wreckage: Sasuke wanting to be Hokage? Calm your ass, Uchiha. Naruto's dream…you want to steal it? JUST NO.

**XX END of RANT XX**

PS: I'm still in chapter 14 so don't tell me anything about the ending or whatever.

Anyway, I'm still going through a rough time and major changes in my life so I'm sorry if I seem late in updating. It's just that with all the major changes, I find it hard to conjure fun and light dialogue when I, myself, am not in a light and fun mood. My laptop and is the only thing that feels familiar to me right now….. heck even my tweets seem out of it.

**READ and REVIEW, make my day. =)**

**Thank you for the reviews and for subscribing. **

Chapter Five: In League With Death

* * *

Ino stared at the blank room with quiet panic while the other three discussed amongst themselves all the possible ways the killer could've gone by undetected. She knew she should be listening—helping them in every possible way. Yet, their voices were muffled and distant to her ears; how could something like this slide past her? _Her _and the security—they were five levels underground for crying out loud.

It can't get any safer than the underground units. Heck, if someone had slipped through the all the high-security measures that countless scientists worked to put up and make, what was stopping another intruder to come in with a rapid-fire machine gun and start shooting.

Images of bloodied walls and tables pierced Ino's thoughts like a sharp knife; searing into her mind a picture of terror. The blonde quickly jolted herself out of her doom-filled imagery and decided to steer her thoughts back to their witness.

Their _dead _witness—who was bleeding all over the freshly cleaned room.

_Double Whammy._

Blood stains were hard to clean off.

Ino stared at the pool of blood that surrounded the waiter's head. As her eyes took in the sight of the bullet wound, her stomach churned from the guilt she felt. She was in-charge of the witness. She had planned to investigate him today. She should have done it right away. _She knew it._

But she didn't.

The young woman clenched her hands into fists—she had to get a grip of herself; mistakes were made all the time. It was normal to make mistakes…right?

Blue eyes swept across the room. _No. _Not if the mistake cost them their only lead.

"Tapes." Sakura's voice pierced through her mental barricade. "We need to go over the tapes and figure out how the killer slipped past security." She added in a calm voice, looking at Sasuke ushering a silent question: 'What do you think?' her look asked the Uchiha who stared at her for a few moments before he grunted in approval.

"Sasuke!" a feminine voice echoed throughout the hallway, where they stood just outside the room, followed by echoing footsteps that were quick and rushed. Sakura flinched at the familiar voice and whirled around as soon as the other girl stopped just beside the Uchiha.

Sakura's green eyes narrowed. "Oh look who decided to join the party." She drawled sarcastically. "I'm sorry to tell you, but," she looked pointedly at the redhead. "Being fashionably late doesn't exactly work around here."

Tayuya's angered eyes locked on hers. "I'm glad you think I'm fashionable, Haruno-san." She said in a false humble tone, stressing the honorific to mock the glowering rosette. "Let me know if you need any help with…" she gave Sakura a head- to- toe and offered her a smile as if she felt bad for her. "well…things."

The Rosette bristled at the insult to her fashion sense and made to retort again when Sasuke stepped in right before she could open her mouth to even snarl at the smirking girl. Oh how she wanted to rip her stupid hair out and make it into a carpet that she would then proceed to burn and scatter the ashes in different dumpsters throughout the city.

"Both of you, we have a dead man to worry about. Please leave the catfight for later." Kakashi said in a serious tone, looking from Sakura to Tayuya with the authority of a seasoned agent. "But." He broke out into a grin, that wasn't seen but showed through the crinkling of his exposed eye. "Call me when you guys get physical. It would be quite a show." He said, losing all the seriousness and the respect-commanding aura as quickly as he showed it a few seconds back.

Sasuke grit his teeth and leaned into Sakura's ear. "You're going to fight about fashion sense while our only lead is _dead?!_" he snarled out quietly, making Sakura flinch.

Sakura crossed her arms and grumbled a reply "Jeez, someone's edgy today."

"Our witness is _dead." _

After Sasuke's outburst, the pink-haired agent moved to standby Kakashi, nudging Tayuya aside as she did so, smirking when she heard the redhead mutter a curse when she stumbled.

"_Bitch."_ Sakura heard the foul-mouthed she-male say.

Sakura ignored it, taking the higher ground, or so she proclaimed. She decided to pretend the redhead to be part of the walls—it _wasn't _much but she didn't want to put so much effort. Hate required effort and Tayuya did not deserve any bit of effort from Sakura's being at all.

"I'll take care of this." Ino said quietly, walking towards the opposite hallway where the security room was. She turned back and caught Sasuke's eye. "You guys proceed with the case; move forward with what you have. I'll handle this."

Sasuke nodded and opened his mouth to speak. "Let us know what you find, Yamanaka." Ino smiled and nodded before continuing her brisk walk to the security room.

They watched Ino disappear off into the corridor and when she was gone, they turned to each other; each of them looking as if they didn't know where to start.

"What now?" Tayuya grumbled in annoyance. She had gotten shot for nothing; seeing as they were nowhere in their case. The redhead regarded her bandage with an annoyed glance before looking at Sasuke who looked just as annoyed as she was.

She couldn't help but think how nice a pair they made.

Kakashi snapped back to his serious demeanour and began scavenging what little facts they had. He crossed his arms and closed his eyes. So far, they know that their target wasn't as easy as they thought. Somehow, he knew they were there and had contacted his boss.

_Or_

The silver haired man thought to himself. They knew that a squad of ANBU officers would be there and had set up a trap.

Countless possibilities ran through his mind at maximum speed. All they had were such tiny fragments of clues and leads. It's been a week since the ordeal and they had gotten nowhere. Kakashi dragged a hand warily through his spiky silver hair and called his team's attention.

"We will convene in my office at seven pm. Til then, Sasuke, inform the head of HQ security of the situation, and if possible, question the officers who were in charge. Yamanaka is taking care of looking over the video feed." Kakashi paused to take a breath and looked to the redhead's arm. " Tayuya, have your arm checked and go help Sasuke after."

"Sakura, Shikamaru paged for you. See him and, see if he can help in tracking down Hitori."

The young officers took note of their orders and when given a dismissing wave from their leader, they all went for the elevators to do their specific tasks; leaving Kakashi alone in the hallway.

* * *

Naruto stared at the body before him with complete and utter terror in his face. Why was he here? Wasn't TenTen supposed to be doing this; checking the dead body for any signs of wounds from a foreign object? Neji t_old her_ to do it—NOT him.

In fact, he pretty much thought he was banned from this place. Seeing as he had not reacted well to his first cadaver examination. His cheeks burned at the memory and immediately, he stuffed the memory away and tried his hardest to squeeze the lid of his imagination shut.

"You got this, Uzumaki. You. _GOT. THIS._" He said to himself, taking deep breaths to calm his wired nerves. "Ah, shit. I should've just let a Junior Agent do the job." It was pointless—this visit. He was just going to bring in the body to HQ anyway. Why did he have to examine it himself as well? They were all going to re-examine it in their lab either way.

The blonde scoffed bitterly at the excessive use of agent labor.

At the excessive use of _him. _

He looked at the covered cadaver and swallowed a lump in his throat along with the sick feeling that seemed to encompass him as his blue eyes stared at the unmoving mass laid on the metal table before him. The last time he'd been in here, he'd blown chunks at the doctor's shoes and was punished by helping out during the autopsy.

He was a junior back then.

But even now, as a senior ANBU officer, there he stood, his face a sickly shade of green, just staring at the not-even open body of one of his fellow ANBU agents.

"Yo, Blondie, Are you just going to stare at it or…." A strict looking doctor, the same one he vomited on, said as he crossed the room and stood at the opposite side of the bed. Naruto prayed that the old man wouldn't recognize him but alas, the doctor's black eyes sparked in recognition when he studied Naruto.

A wicked grin sprang to his chapped lips at Naruto's obvious nervousness. _Ah, the boy who blew chunks of Ramen. _He was going to have _so _much fun today.

And to think he was going to call in sick.

"He's _dead_. Why do you look like you think it's going to _move_" The old man drawled with mirth; finding Naruto's fear quite amusing. For a man who could pull a trigger without hesitation, he sure was afraid of dead people—or at least, grossed out.

Some odd form of regret, maybe? His eyes sparked as he studied the poor young man over the body in front of him.

"How do you do this?"

The doctor's eyebrows shot up. "Do _what?"_

Naruto waved his hand, gesturing to the covered body on the steel table, his eyes taking an unusual uneasiness. "Cut up and look at dead people…Like it's _nothing._"

At the blonde's statement, the aged doctor smiled. "It's no different from the way you can kill people…" his eyes sought Naruto's blue ones, once his gaze locked with the younger man's, he continued. "Like it's _nothing._"

Naruto tried not to take his words personally, fighting back the urge to defend himself. He reached for the edge of the cover, finally ready to see the body.

An old wrinkly and slightly sallow hand stopped him. "Allow me, Uzumaki-san." The doctor said grandly and with a flourish, he frisked away the heavy white cloth that concealed the scarily deformed body of an ANBU agent; the tattoo still visible, as if the murderer had played a sick joke: leaving only that patch of skin normal.

Naruto blanched and was tempted to cover it up again. Who would do this to a human being? A bubble of hot anger exploded inside the young man and suddenly all the wheeziness left him; leaving him as his anger swelled.

"COD?" Naruto asked seriously, checking the man for stab and bullet wounds. The doctor let out a scientific gargle of words that Naruto strained to understand. Naruto's blue eyes sparked with irritation. The old man before him caught it and immediately restated the explanation in a simpler manner. He wasn't keen on having a pen in his eye socket anytime soon.

"A unique mixture of drugs that formed a fatal poison." He said in his raspy voice.

"So like an overdose of some sort" Naruto said outloud. "Do you think it was intended?" It could have been an accident. From the looks of the grotesque deformity of the body, it was as if he was used as a guinea pig.

The older man took his question and thought over it quickly but surely. He pulled out a chart and furrowed his brows at the information. His dull gray eyes looked Naruto as he put the chart down. "Now, don't think I'm being a smart ass, Uzumaki-san. But…" he looked at the body again. "It seems like it was…both."

* * *

Shikamaru jumped out of his wheeled chair when the door to the room banged open. Sakura stalked in pulled a chair next to him, plopping down ungracefully and pouting. The lazy genius raised a thin brow and regarded Sakura with half-hearted interest. "Is this where I ask what's wrong or do you want me to shut up and go on with business?"

Sakura took a deep breath and Shikamaru braced himself for a bitching of a lifetime from the petite female. But instead of anger directed at him for the sarcastic remark, her malevolence was directed at the desk. The rosette banged her fist at the chrome table.

"Madame Bitchy-cakes has the nerve to use my words against me! Can you believe how incredibly foul she is?" Sakura ranted, sparing Shikamaru a sidelong glance before turning back to stare at the computer screen.

"Who exactly is _she?_" The brunette clarified, instantly regretting his decision of asking when Sakura looked at him incredulously. "The bitch of course!" she answered as if he would know who _The Bitch _was.

Shikamaru felt like smacking his face and groaning.

Sakura had barged into his department dozens of times in the past demanding he listen to her rant about a certain bitch and he had discovered, albeit after a huge whack on the shoulder that bruised badly, that it was a different person every time. Dark eyes looked at Sakura cautiously.

How the hell was he supposed to guess who the bitch was this time?

"Haruno, you are too liberal with the term bitch. I find it hard to keep track of which bitch you are referring to." He grumbled lazily, leaning his chin on the palm of his hand. Sakura scoffed. "I am _not _too liberal with the word bitch."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at her but did not move from his position. "There was Ino, the lunch lady who gave you full-fat milk…._Sasuke."_ the brunette said, enumerating the people who've had the honor of being called a bitch.

"I have the video feed, if you don't believe me." He said with a smirk, jerking a thumb to a drawer where he kept video records from the security cameras in the office.

Sakura glared at Shikamaru. "I'll take your word for it." She said, eyeing the drawer behind them with utter distate. "OH," she turned to meet his gaze. "If you tell Sasuke I called him a bitch, you're dead."

"Haruno, I'm pretty sure Uchiha _knows_ he's a bitch."

The rosette grinned. "I like you, Nara." Shikamaru rolled his eyes lazily. "Do I have to say the same about you?"

"If you know what's good for you." Sakura said in reply, earning a snort from the brunette who spun around in his chair casually. He looked at her with a sarcastic façade. "Watcha gonna do? Call me a bitch?"

"Nara, I'm pretty sure you _know _you're a bitch." Shikamaru's lips curved into an amused smirk at her wordplay.

Sakura grinned and settled herself in a more comfortable position. Her back hit the supple leather of the backrest and she sighed comfortably. Why did Intel have such comfy chairs?

"So, you paged for me. What is it?" she asked in a serious voice, reaching for a note that she'd stowed in her pocket. "Oh and, we need you to track down Hitori; see where we can nab him next." Shikamaru nodded, taking the note that was written in Kakashi's neat script. He put on his desk and handed her a folder; he knew a flashdrive would be more convenient but he was old school—and damn proud.

Sakura looked at the folder with a mixture of interest and confusion.

"In your jealous rage, you asked for a background check on Tayuya." He waved of a hostile glare from Sakura. Seriously, this woman could give Sasuke's glare a run for its money. "She transferred here from Sound when Orochimaru decided to go rogue." Shikamaru tapped the '**place of origin' **

**"**You are quite familiar with Agent Swaps, yes? But this one is slightly different."

Sakura read through the information stated. Orochimaru was head of team called 'The Sound Five." Instead of ANBU organization, which Sound could not afford due to its sad economy, a team of highly trained and disciplined agents was formed to act out the duties of ANBU members— the small organization was lead by Orochimaru.

He had always been the shady type. And when he had finally gone off the deep end, Sound Five was shut down; its members disappearing along with it. Soon the members dispersed; joining different organizations in different countries and some quitting all together.

Orochimaru on the other hand, had established a name in the bingo books of every ANBU and special ops organization. A chill ran up her spine when she saw his name pop up in the book. She'd once thought he was quite a gifted man and had the opportunity to learn a little bit from him during her earlier years.

"You were in Suna when she came." Shikamaru added. Sakura nodded in agreement; she had been assigned a mission from Suna and had only returned recently. "How long until they became a thing?"

Shikamarut decided to play dumb. "Who's they?" he asked in his deep lazy voice. Sakura smacked him. "You have an IQ of 200—use it." She grumbled, crossing her arms childishly and glaring at the smirking brunette.

"Jealous rage."

She scoffed. "Protective Curiosity" she defended, leaning away and regarding him with a cool glance which he returned with a sceptical one. "Denial." Green eyes rolled as the girl next to him fidgeted slightly, trying to hide the fact that she was feeling rather uncomfortable with the accusation.

The peeved girl met the genius's laughter filled brown eyes and immediately wished she'd never come to the Intel wing at all. In fact, she was already planning a murder in her head; she was deciding whether to deliver the death blow swiftly or if she'd want to watch the pineapple-head bleed all over the desktop.

"I'll take your silence as an indicator that you indeed are in a jealous rage."

She eyed the brunette with contempt, he simply looked at her with a bored expression in his features, brushing aside her murderous look. Sakura let out a strangled cry-groan hybrid that began at the back of her throat. "Shikamaru, I have a pen. And I might just trip and stab your eye."

Shikamaru grinned and playfully patted her head. "They hit it off a week after she arrived." He said, feeling a little anxious about Sakura's threat regarding her pen. It was no joke when an ANBU officer makes a threat—they would deliver; even if the threat was made to a fellow officer.

Sakura's face went from normal to a sickly red mess. A week?! It only to a fucking week? Her cheeks burned. She'd spent at least a _year _trying to break the ice with the Uchiha. One whole year. Sure, they were kids and he was not as in control of his internal brat as he was now—give or take a few incidents; most of them involving tomatoes.

But _still_.

She stood abruptly and put her hands on her hips. "No fair!" What, did something divinely powerful alter Uchiha Sasuke's social behaviour? The man wouldn't even fake a smile at a family gathering—so how did a t_hing_ like Tayuya get the human embodiment of the glacier that sunk titanic to warm up to her in a span of a week?!

"Titanic should've sunk." She grumbled to herself, piquing Shikamaru's interest. He looked up from his computer and gave her a weird look. "Uh…it did."

The look Sakura gave him was vehement. "No it did not! It should've gone down in flames—NOT date the glacier! It was not supposed to date the fucking glacier because the glacier is….A GLACIER!" she rambled before shoving the wheeled chair away and stomping to the door.

Screw decorum.

When the door slammed shut. Shikamaru stared at the spot where Sakura had stood earlier. "Is that the summary of the remake? If so, it's straying quite a bit from the actual plot…" And it was quite too early for a remake of Titanic.

* * *

"I'm telling you, Uzumaki. She went on about Titanic dating the glacier. I've heard about those sick vampire love stories that are just detestable but a boat and a glacier?" Shikamaru grunted. "Women and their….I don't know…Woman..ness?"

Naruto slapped a tanned hand on Shikamaru's back. "I know what you mean. Did she threaten you with sushi?" he asked, remembering the lunch incident wherein Sakura had mercilessly threatened to shove a rubbery piece of fish down his oesophagus.

The spiky haired genius shook his head. "A pen."

Naruto shook his head. Damn was Sakura violent.

A beep resonated through the room as well as the sound of paper being pushed out of the printer's mouth. Sheets of paper poured out from the opening and lay neatly on the tray. Shikamaru yawned and went over to pick up the sheets, tapping them to straighten out the stack before handing it out to Naruto who'd fallen into step with him.

"Fifteen people have gone missing—fifteen is the number we know of, it's safe to say that there might've been abductions that we don't know about." Shikamaru stated while Naruto read the files. His brown eyes darted to the screen that showed the disturbing picture of the ANBU agent Naruto examined earlier as well as two other deformed bodies; the other two were civilians but looked just as bad.

Naruto followed the Nara's gaze to the computer screen. An unknown feeling bubbled inside him like fire. "Does it ever cross your mind…" he tore his gaze away from the screen to look at Shikamaru. "That we're no different from those murderers?" he said quietly. He'd joined ANBU because he wanted to protect people and keep justice. But sometimes, the line was blurred especially with an organization like ANBU.

They weren't military but they weren't also exactly a hit man group. Criminals they were not but they were doing the same thing: killing... deciding who goes and who does not.

Naruto felt Shikamaru's hand on his shoulder. "What makes us different is w_hy _we do it." He said wisely, patting the blonde's shoulder in a reassuring manner. "Don't doubt yourself, Uzumaki." Shikamaru's hand closed around the mouse as he clicked the 'x' button, closing the three pictures.

He met Naruto's gaze. "There is a slim difference but there _is _one."

* * *

The lab was brightly lit at the center. Bright white lights hung over and bathed the cadaver with light as two agents gingerly poked, prodded and examined the lifeless human shell that was once a live and strong agent.

"What the hell did they do to you?" TenTen whispered in quiet horror as she turned the head to the side to check for gunshot wounds. Not that it was much of a head anymore she thought with a flinch. "I see nothing." The brunette squinted and scanned the body one more time.

It was as if the body had just reacted on its own. There was no indication of a foreign object that did the damage and killed the victim. The body just seemed to have died of exhaustion from whatever the hell it was going through.

"TenTen." Neji spoke, beckoning her with a wave of his hand. His slim fingers gripped the man's right arm and twisted it gently; exposing the inner arm. He pointed to the soft juncture that connected the forearm to the upperarm.

TenTen let out a gasp as she took in the sight of what looked like about twenty or more needle pricks on the victim's arm. "He was injected with some sort of drug" she spat in disgust at the vile treatment of a human being.

Neji put the arm down gently and started removing his gloves. His pale eyes averting from the sorry sight of their victim, even he felt such a negative disposition over the way the man was treated. It was detestable and horrid.

His deep and quiet baritone echoed through the silent room. "Send for Haruno. We'll need a poison and drug expert."

* * *

**LOVE IT?**

**HATE IT?**

**LET ME KNOW.**

**REVIEW. REVIEW. REVIEW. **

Kind of short. Sorry. But it was fun writing it. If I went any longer the chapter would drag. =) Thank you for reading.


	6. Chapter 6

Hello darlings… I'm at work and I'm typing up a chapter. Hello, Employee of the month! Hahaha I'm feeling quite AU so I decided to update: 'Can I Kill Her'. OMG there is this kid hanging around me and like now he's asking me to go to his school with him. Babies are so cute omg =)))

Ok, I was quite amazed that all of you found Sakura and Shikamaru's conversation funny—trivia: That was based on a conversation I had with my friend—I was Sakura. And for all of you who were asking where Sasuke went; I can't always have a girl fight springing every chapter now, can I? Or have another fluffy moment after another. But rest assured—he appears here.

**Thanks for the reviews and subscriptions! **

Chapter 6: Sick Little Games

* * *

_Medical Wing, Check-up room_

Tayuya waited impatiently on the white sheeted hospital bed that was pushed up against the center of the wall. She glared at the clock every now and then as if her menacing stare would tell clock to walk and get her a medic.

She had been here for at least twenty minutes; twenty minutes that could've been spent looking for leads. When were they going to send a medic—when her arm was healed? The red head let out a grumble of profanities while she made to lean on the metal headboard. Kakashi had asked her to get her arm checked and proceed to help Sasuke interrogate the men who were in charge of security the night of the murder.

A cold stare swept through the room without interest. It was a small clinic—meant for quick check-ups and consultations. It was also where most agents got their shots. The tiled floor was bleak and gray…or maybe it was her boredom either way she'd do almost anything to get out of this place.

"God damn it, where is my fucking medic?" ANBU had at least fifty roaming the wing at this hour, and if her knowledge was correct, there weren't any serious cases that required special attention.

After what felt like an eternity, Tayuya's well-trained ears heard the faint squeak of hinges, a sign that the door had been opened, and immediately her head snapped to the right, eyes blazing at the sight of a shoe stepping into the room. "Took you long enough! Now hurry up with that check-up." She looked at the medic. "I have to assist a colleague."

Sasuke smirked when Tayuya blanched a little and halted her snappy remarks at the sight of him standing in the doorframe his dark eyes looking straight at her with amused interest. "Colleague?" He leaned against the frame and proceeded to scan the room; it was one of the smaller rooms, he noticed, eyes darting to a tray of medical tools set on a trolley situated on the left side of the bed. Why was she in a small room? The bullet wound on her shoulder pretty should've landed her a bigger one.

As if reading his thoughts, Tayuya answered his question. "This was the room closest to the exit. I thought I could get out of here quick enough and make a mad dash to wherever you were."

Sasuke smirked at her miffed sounding voice, his dark eyes landed on her face while she was fighting a frown that threatened to break out. "Not happy to see me?" he asked nonchalantly. Tayuya let the frown break free. _Yes. She was upset._ "If you're here, that means you're—

"Done." Sasuke finished curtly and walked to sit by her on the small hospital bed. The security department had been quick to cooperate and allowed him access to any of the computers as well as the agents for search. They even agreed to separate questioning. Everything had gone by in a blur. Even Sasuke had been surprised about how quickly he finished. Then again, if an Uchiha was sent to investigate your department, it wouldn't do well for them _not_ to be understanding and cooperative.

His response deepened her frown making Sasuke smirk at her reaction. "Some girlfriends would be glad that her boyfriend—I mean, _colleague_ finished early and came to her check-up." Tayuya's head rose defiantly, her eyes glittering and her mouth forming a smirk to equal Sasuke's. "Some girlfriends don't get shot."

It was meant to be a joke; A flirty and witty remark for banter. But the male had taken it differently. Sasuke's dark eyes seemed to darken even more at the memory of Tayuya; bloodied in Kakashi's arms , barely moving, on the night of their botched recon mission. His arms snaked to her waist and pulled her closer to him. "Sorry." He murmured quietly.

Tayuya let Sasuke pull her to him; she was speechless—astounded. This was one of the rare occurrences that came with dating Uchiha Sasuke. She thought herself an expert at all things Sasuke but t_his_ and meeting Sakura had made her think otherwise. Her voice and speech left her and all she could do was gap like a fish.

She leaned her head on his surprisingly tense shoulder. It wasn't his fault. It was she who had been the one to chase the man out of the restaurant and into the alley. Tayuya wanted so bad to tell him that he couldn't save everyone, but she was still too stunned by his weird behaviour.

Weird behaviour.

An idea popped into her head. She pulled out of the hug and looked at Sasuke's face; shocked by her sudden action. His mouth moved to voice out a question but Tayuya beat him to it. "Are you drunk?" she accused; half teasingly, half seriously. She took his face into her hands and gave the Uchiha's face a closer look.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at her. "What? Why?" he tried to pry off Tayuya's hand from his face but the young woman was persistent and surprisingly strong despite the healing wound on her shoulder. "Why would you think I was drunk?" he asked in annoyance, grabbing both her hands in one swipe and pinning them on the bed. What in heaven's name did he do for Tayuya to accuse him of being drunk?

The redhead rolled her eyes at his annoyance. Like _he_ had the right to be annoyed, "Because you only act like that around—

The door opened and a chart clattered noisily to the floor. "Shit." The stunned medic grumbled, stooping down to grab the fallen chart. "Sakura." Sasuke regarded, letting go of Tayuya and leaning away from her making the redhead frown in disappointment. She liked how close they were and didn't understand why he had to move away just because the pink haired nuisance came in. Speaking of which, her brown eyes snapped to the medic menacingly.

"Must you always appear out of nowhere, Haruno?" Sakura's head lifted to regard Tayuya with a cool glance that she learned from Sasuke. "Funny, it so happens that I've been here my whole life— It is _you _who had seemed to appear from nowhere." She smiled the fakest smile in her arsenal. "In more ways than one."

Sasuke sighed and slid off the bed. This thing between Tayuya and Sakura was getting on his nerves. He looked at Sakura expecting her to meet his but was surprised when his best friend just walked past him.

The newcomer grabbed the chart and threw it on the metal tray, hitting the medical instruments noisily but disregarding the disturbance. Her bright green eyes struggled to keep away from the couple who she'd interrupted a few moments ago.

"You have a habit of scaring off the medics. The medic assigned to attend to you practically begged me to do it instead." Sakura's mouth twitched slightly. Tayuya matched her smirk with one of her own. "Aren't you the brave one." She drawled mockingly, rolling her eyes while she was at it.

"Actually," Sakura stated chirpily. "I believe you are the brave one." A syringe was waved in front of Tayuya's face. "It takes a lot of guts to piss of a medic with an empty syringe…." Sasuke let out a huff of breath that sounded, Tayuya observed heatedly, like a laugh.

"Just get this over with."

Sakura rolled her eyes and reached for the vile of soldier serum. "The extra shot will reduce the healing process. In at least a week, your shoulder should be better." Sasuke watched Sakura put the correct dosage of the serum and recheck the measurements.

With a sure hand, Sakura inserted the needle and pushed the contents out slowly. Tayuya winced a little, feeling the thick consistency of the serum enter her. "You're enjoying this aren't you, Haruno?" a tone of accusation coating every inch of the sentence.

"I'd enjoy stabbing you more." Came the measure reply of Sakura. Tayuya's eyes darted to Sasuke quickly and saw that he was reading one of the bottles of medicines found on the tray. The redhead hissed and glared at Sakura. "Too bad this is as close as you will get."

The medic only shrugged. "Whatever helps you sleep at night." Sasuke put down the bottle he was examining and helped Tayuya off the bed. Sakura began packing up; throwing the used syringe and stuffing all the bottles and vials back into the cupboard, locking the cabinet when she was done. Although she did not miss that three vial holders were missing.

An annoyed feeling welled in her chest. Had these petty robberies been happening for a while or had they just started? It seemed that vials of soldier serum were being sneaked out of the medical wing a lot lately and she's just about had it with the agents were stealing extra doses.

"Tell me, Haruno…" the redhead's deep voice echoed around the room breaking the young medic out of her mental rampage about juniors and their fear of their own mortality. Without turning, Sakura responded for Tayuya to continue with a small grunt. "You once told me that you wouldn't help me if ever I got shot—why did you?"

The rosette smirked and turned to look at her with steely green eyes. "Don't flatter yourself." Her tone was of ice. "I only did it for him." Sakura jerked her chin to Sasuke who's raised his eyebrow at her cold demeanour. Sakura waved him off and turned away from them and wrote on Tayuya's chart. _Because he likes you. _

Sasuke watched the rosette bend over the table to write on the paper attached to the clipboard, his eyes studied her body—her shoulders were tensed, and she was pushing on the pen too hard; he could hear the pen ripping small parts of paper as she wrote.

He opened his mouth to speak. "Sakura!" Sasuke closed his mouth abruptly. That wasn't his voice nor was it Tayuya's. The three of them whipped their hands towards the door.

There, stood Naruto, panting and huffing. "TenTen asked me to get you. We need your help with the body." Sakura let out a sigh. Really? Did everyone have to _need _her today—and all at once?! She checked her watch; she had at least twenty minutes until their meeting with Kakashi.

Sakura thrust the chart to Sasuke without looking at the Uchiha. "Give it to the lady manning the desk up front." She instructed briefly before removing her white medical coat. It was already off her shoulders when Naruto stopped her. "Keep it on." He said. "It might get messy."

* * *

_Level 2: Morgue and Testing Labs, Body Examinations Wing. _

Naruto pulled Sakura through the strange mess of hallways, muttering nonsense while they looked for the exact room Neji and TenTen were in. "Naruto, what room number are they in?" Sakura asked, trying to be helpful—the blonde looked like he was about to reach his limit and start breaking down the walls.

"Room—

Sakura grabbed his arm when a hand shot out from one door to pull her in. "Gah!" she said in surprise, wind leaving her lungs as she stumbled forward into the brightly lit laboratory. Naruto straightened beside her and began his rant of rage. "What the hell? You don't just pull somebody in like that when they're in a fucking morgue!" His tanned face bloomed with red tint.

Sakura chuckled and patted Naruto's arm. "Don't tell me you're scared, Naruto." Her eyes darted to TenTen who had her hands clasped behind her back, her smile too innocent. "Yeah, Uzumaki. Didn't think dead bodies freaked you out so much."

A childish snort from Naruto made the two girls grin. "I was merely concerned for Sakura." He retorted, walking swiftly past the two women to one of the beds that was covered in a white sheet.

"Wrong bed, Uzumaki. Ours is over there." She pointed to the opposite end of the room where a sole bed occupied the center of the room, machines and tools scattered around it. "The one you're standing over has no limbs and—

Naruto made a mad dash for the other side of the room.

Sakura raised a brow at TenTen. "Decapitated limbs?" she questioned smirking brunette. "Nah, it's a practice dummy for the trainees." She said with a shrug.

"We need to hang out more." Sakura stated, walking along side TenTen to where Naruto was. TenTen showed her pearly teeth and nodded vigorously. "Next time I'll request for you to help me clean out bullet wounds."

"Perfect girls' night out." Sakura joked and Tenten went with it. "I know, dead bodies and autopsies, who can beat that?"

The girls reached the bed and Sakura's years of medical training kicked into overdrive. "You told me that he was drugged?" she asked TenTen as she slipped on some latex glove she found on one of the trays next to bed. "Yes, we've found countless needle marks on his right and left arm."

Sakura gently examined the deformed mass that was once an arm. "Whatever they did, it looks like they weren't exactly sure with what they were doing." It was probably why they tossed the body in the first place. Her eyes scanned the rest of the body when Naruto piped up. "The old man over at the CSI labs told me that they poisoned him accidentally and on purpose." He scratched his head in confusion. How the hell was he supposed to understand that?

The two turned to Sakura who had stopped examining the body and had begun slipping the gloves off; each glove snapping as she tugged on them; throwing the pair into a bin swiftly. "They were drugging him on purpose but the death was an accident." _Or came too soon._

"Naruto, was able to get the poison sample" TenTen asked, moving to the computer by the bedside that showed an image of the poison's chemical state. "Nicked it from the crime lab." He said proudly, grinning at Sakura and giving her a thumbs-up. When the doctor led him out of the lab, Naruto passed a table of evidence from the victim and had swiped a sample of the remaining ounces of poison in the man's system.

"You do know that's a federal crime right?" Naruto's face fell a little. Just count on Sakura to use logic to completely crush any feeling of accomplishment. Although technically, they had jurisdiction over the sample; it was, after all, an ANBU agent that was killed and that meant that investigations fell under them. Plus the case was handed to ANBU officially—so he was in no way to be charged with _anything. _

"Quit messing with me, Sak." He grumbled childishly. Said girl grinned and started typing on the computer. "We do need to hang out more often." TenTen said with a giggle. Naruto was about to retort when Sakura gasped.

"What is it?" he asked, running to the computer and seeing a swirl of letters and numbers appear in different parts of the sample. "They used so many drugs on him." Even more scientific names that Naruto couldn't even pronounce kept popping up. "There are even some that _we_ use" Sakura's eyes widened what were they hoping to achieve with all these drugs? It was unnatural—inhumane….

She checked her watch: five minutes until her meeting with Kakashi. With a swift look at the screen and a glance at Naruto, Sakura sped through her database and began linking the information to her private network. "I have a meeting with Kakashi. But I'll look into this later." She looked at TenTen. "Here's what I can tell you, based on what I've seen,"

She took a deep breath. "He's using them as Guinea pigs." The computer beeped indicating that the process was finished. TenTen eyes narrowed. "So this could mean someone is developing something for bio warfare?" she asked in slight horror.

The rosette's face was hard. "That's my hunch. "

* * *

_Location: Hatake Kakashi's Office, 7 pm, ANBU HEADQUARTERS_

At seven in the evening, three agents gathered inside Hatake Kakashi's office, all of them looking deathly serious with an exception for Sakura who looked like actual death. Kakashi noted her tired face and raised an eyebrow. "You feeling alright?" he asked the young agent.

"Long day." Was all she could say, Sakura was way too tired to recount what had happened in those brief hours. Tayuya snorted. "Not enough stamina, pinky?" she taunted with a smug tone.

"I still have enough to kick your ass." She retorted menacingly, her green eyes darkening with rage when Tayuya smiled at her. "Do you want to give it a go?" her voice was an annoying screech to Sakura's ears and she had just about had enough of her snarky remarks.

In one swift movement, Sakura pulled a gun out of the belt and threw it at Tayuya who caught it smoothly. The rosette smiled. "I'll give you an advantage, point that gun and try me." She challenged, eyeing Tayuya's bandaged right shoulder.

She was right handed.

Tayuya cursed when all eyes were on her. Sakura had told her earlier that her shoulder would be in working shape next week. If the pink-haired freak had challenged her t when her arm was working, this wouldn't be a problem— heck, she'd have a bullet through her skull three seconds after she threw the gun had the shoulder been already healed.

But the girl had chucked her a gun right now knowing that she wouldn't be able to lift and hold it steady. Sakura eyed the red head's death grip on her pistol and smirked. "Don't make threats unless you're sure you can deliver."

The silver haired man coughed and in an instant all eyes were on him. "Here's one," he said cheerily. "Get it together or you two are off the case." His tone which had been light at one point turned dark and chilling. Sakura's breath hitched a little and Tayuya's grip on the gun slackened.

Sasuke shifted in his seat and handed Kakashi a few pictures, he did his best not to look at either Tayuya or Sakura making Kakashi smirk a little. How was it that Sasuke always had a problem with women?

"These are the men in charge when the murder happened. None of them reported anything out of the ordinary that night." Sasuke had grilled and used every possible way; minus torture though he was tempted, to get information out of all of the agents.

They needed the tapes; and Ino was still working on them. The tapes were the only lead and Ino had been watching every one of them over and over again in hopes that they'd find something that would link to the killer. Sasuke left the pictures on Kakashi's heavy desk and went to sit on the vacant chair beside Sakura, though still not making eye-contact with the girl.

It was Sakura's turn to report. "I have Nara looking searching every camera and every database for Hitori's next appearance. It won't be long until we have another shot. Judging from the last mission, we're dealing with somebody who has a flair for the dramatics." The older man nodded. "Once we have a secure enough sighting, we move."

Everyone then turned to Tayuya who was standing awkwardly, not really knowing what to do with her hands. "I…uh." The floor was becoming rather interesting and she decided to keep her eyes locked on the carpeted floor as she spoke. "..I got my arm checked."

Sakura let out a short and hitch breath. She slapped a hand to her mouth to stop it from becoming a full out laugh. Sasuke gave her a condescending glare which she brushed off considering he too was fighting the urge to smirk in amusement at the situation.

The oldest out of the bunch clapped his hands together once, the sound reverberating throughout the office and fading out slowly. All heads turned to his face and he cleared his throat. "Keep your phones and pagers with you at all costs. Be ready to move—the moment we receive news from Nara we drop whatever it is we're doing and report to him, understood?"

They all sounded an agreement and were dismissed. One by one they filed out of the office and left Kakashi alone in his office.

He cast an eye on the door to make sure no one was outside before he pulled out the small items the nurse handed to him in an airtight bag. The bag dangled from his firm grip in front of his face. Kakashi's mouth that was concealed by a mask twitched upward to form a small smirk. He took his phone out of his back pocket with his free hand and flipped it open.

With stunning accuracy, he typed in a number quickly without looking and put the phone in his ear, listening to the ringing until a deep voice picked up from the other end. _"Hatake." _Kakashi smiled. "Such formalities, Itachi. Really, do lighten up."

_"What is it?" _the deep voice of Itachi filled his ear. "I have a concern." Kakashi stated, looking at the bag again. "Your office or mine?" he asked in a teasing tone, he heard Itachi smirk and grunt on the other end. _"Kakashi, my office is not far from yours, you could've walked in."_

With a flourish, Kakashi through the bag up and caught it. "Where's the theatrics in that?" he joked. "See you in ten minutes."

* * *

Sakura was slumped over her desk tiredly, her mind racing nonstop even though she had stopped reading the files on her computer. She'd been breaking down the components of the poison in the man's system. There had been tons of drugs that were added separately for the body to reach that sort of mutation.

The image of the many needle marks flashed quickly through Sakura's mind and a cold shudder ran through her spine. These people were getting crazier and crazier each time. What ever happened to just shooting the victim? She sighed and tied her hair up into a high ponytail.

She shot a quick glance around her office to see if it needed a clean-up before she left to go to a knock out cell—she needed some sleep if she was to finish up with the compound break down.

The office was neat, save for her cluttered desk that was filled with papers and files that were half read. She had a bookcase on the right and matching one on the left, a rectangular forest green carpet adorned the center of the room and beside her desk that was pushed up against the back wall were two dark blue filing cabinets.

With a sigh, she reached for the lamp on her table and was about to click it off when a knock on the door stopped her. Dropping her hand midway and letting it hit the table with a dull _thud, _she told whoever it was to come in.

The door opened and closed quickly. Sakura who's head was cupped by her hands, looked up to see who had decided to pay her a visit. Her tired gaze raked over the visitor's dark jeans, white shirt and leather jacket. Before she even reached the face, she knew who it was.

"Hey, Sasuke-kun. Sup?" her voice was as tired as the way she held herself. Sasuke set down a steaming cup of coffee in front of her and put another one down for himself. Sakura eyed the coffee. "No, it's ok. I was planning to head to a knock out cell to—

Sasuke sat down on a chair in front of her, he grabbed the cup and took a quick sip before setting it down again. "Hyuga told me to inform you that they need the break down before twelve midnight." His voice was bored and nonchalant while he told her, however, Sakura was a lot more eloquent with her emotions.

"What?!" she checked her watch in panic. Was Neji taking something to keep him awake at night or was he naturally nocturnal? "Must be a fucking demon." She muttered to herself quietly and began to open her files that she'd already closed in hopes that she could somehow get a little bit of sleep before resuming the next morning.

Guess she'll need the coffee after all. She took the mug and took big gulp, letting the strong liquid sear her throat. The wave of caffeine put a little life back in her eyes, Sasuke noted, observing her over the rim of his own ceramic mug of coffee.

"Hey, why're you drinking coffee? You can head home to sleep." Sasuke wasn't asked to stay in HQ overtime. All Kakashi said was to be keep check of their phones and pagers. And she doubted intel would give them another opening in just a few hours after being told to search.

Sasuke shrugged. "Figured I'd stay with you." His eyes met hers. "Y'know, make sure you do your job right."

Sakura brushed off his jab at her competency. Sasuke was never one for nice gestures and always had to balance it out with a snide remark to cover-up the intention. She smiled at him and pointed to a file. "Since you're here, I might as well use you. Would you mind arranging these?"

Sasuke grunted in annoyance. "Hn. What am I, your secretary?" he muttered.

Sakura grinned. "Well," her eyes slid to the coffee cup in front of her before looking back at him. "You already brought me coffee, I see a future for you in this line of work." She teased and held back a laugh when Sasuke snatched the folder violently from her table and started arranging the file.

"Thank you, Sasuke-kun."

He grunted in response and focused on arranging the messy folder while she typed and scribbled, her eyes darting to Sasuke every now and then.

She liked having him around; so _used _to him just being there. It had always been them—only had been them. But then Tayuya happened and slowly, Sasuke had to divide his time, switching from her best friend to the boyfriend of a girl she wanted so much to kill.

She felt insecure about her standing. Would she be replaced—ignored? Left to deal with life without one of her best friends? Sakura was pretty sure that she'd win out. But seeing them in the clinic earlier in the evening shook her out of that smug fantasy. It had been clear that Tayuya had a fighting chance and it looked like she was winning.

And when she though that she was fighting a losing battle, hope came in a form of a man carrying two coffee cups and offering to stay while she worked.

She was back in the game she thought, giving Sasuke a long glance before turning back to the computer, taking another swig of coffee. "Hn, I'm never bringing you coffee again" Sasuke joked, and Sakura flipped him off.

Yes, she was definitely still in the game.

"Titanic is going to sink." she happily said, earning a weird face from Sasuke. "It _did"_

"Shut up and file."

* * *

"Are you sure about this, sir?" a voice tinged in panic asked.

"Of course, it is all going according to plan…"

* * *

**LOVE IT?**

**HATE IT?**

**LET ME KNOW.**

**REVIEW. REVIEW. REVIEW.**

Whoo hoo. I updated this story twice for May! Hahaha talk about cutting it close. I'll be working on Altered next. Thank you for reading, guys =) Stay awesome.

**Oh my God..631 and 632! Can I just cry and curl into a ball? I see character development and strength in Sakura! "I think I've finally caught up to them?" AAHH! Ok, Sakura haters, TAKE THAT. Sorry just had to get that out. And was that a look of acknowledgement from Sasuke? YESSSS! Faith in SasuSaku has strengthened tenfold! Because wouldn't you want to procreate with somebody who is as strong as Sakura? I mean come on! Disciple of the fifth hokage! **


	7. Chapter 7

Been a while. I know. Kill me in your head if you want. I'm sorry. So so—sorry. And with a chocolate taco for dinner, a still stressed out state of mind, I give you this long awaited chapter.

I'm nervous about so many things right now- my heart goes zero to fifty in a snap. Ugh. This is a new point in my life and I haven't a clue on how to go about this yet. High school was much easier...

Getting sick sucks. I must apologize in advanced for typos

* * *

**READ AND REVIEW PLEASE =) They help the chapter writing. **

* * *

Chapter 7: Breaks and Mistakes

_LOCATION: Liquid Fire Hotel, 9 pm, Mission Status: Infiltration and Recon_

The ballroom was alit with laughter, music and the casual buzzing of its occupants. Sasuke slushed around the red liquid in his half-filled wine glass and stared at the room without a trace of emotion on his face that showed he was having fun.

Because, let's face it. He wasn't.

"You're ruining good wine." Someone joked from behind him. The Uchiha lolled his head to the side and lifted the glass up. "It does its job." He murmured, downing it after his statement. As refined as Sasuke was—all he needed right now was a good kick of alcohol to get him through the night.

"_My, someone looks like he isn't enjoying himself." _A voiced buzzed from his ear piece. "Shut up." Sasuke quipped irritably, grabbing another wine glass from a passing tray.

The sudden outburst startled the unknown guest. "I didn't mean to offend." His tone was nervous and apologetic. He was a tall man; as tall as Sasuke. And he too was dressed in all black and had a mask on, covering his eyes.

Yes, Sasuke was in a masquerade.

The annoyed Uchiha whispered a few curse words before shrugging the masked man off. "It's fine—Excuse me…" He was swift and curt; leaving as soon he finished the sentence.

Sasuke walked around the gold-themed ballroom, stepping aside to avoid a few ladies who were pressing up to him lightly in hopes of getting a dance or two out of the esteemed Uchiha. Well, they didn't exactly know who he was with his mask and all.

But he still looked pretty attractive despite the mask hiding a lot of his features—must've been the way he carried himself.

It was getting a little too crowded for the Uchiha's liking and the face was far too bright. Gold lights, cream table linens and that ridiculous chandelier—God-awful party this was.

"It's like someone threw me back into the renaissance period." He drawled, earning a giggle from a woman beside him. "The only difference is the scantily clad women-I'm pretty sure _she's _not wearing underwear." She pointed to a lady in an extremely tight dark purple gown that hugged her body like latex.

"Sakura." Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief. He'd been searching for her ever since he lost her in the sea of people twenty minutes ago.

"How d'you do?" she mocked, giving a curtsey to top of her act that was cut short by a glare. The rosette straightened up and smirked lightly. "Aren't you used to these kinds of things?" Besides, the renaissance period was one of her favorites—if Sakura had to pick an alternate period to live in, she'd probably go for that.

Sasuke shrugged. "I've seen them all—this one is trying too hard." Sakura's tinkling laughter enveloped him, lightening his sour mood to a dull irritation; a big difference from his black aura a few minutes ago.

Funny how Sakura could make such a difference.

They were stationed by one of the many huge window-doors that lined the outer wall of the room, each window led out onto separate balconies in case people needed some air. It was actually a beautiful ballroom; its walls were a nice off white and were panelled with gold. The ceiling was high and arched, adorned with breath-taking carvings.

"Do you realize that we're in the presence of criminals?" Sakura took a sip of her champagne. "I'm well-aware." The two looked around the room, searching for their ever-elusive target and his number one personal assistant.

"Any sign of Hatori?" the rosette asked, scanning the upper balcony. It was a sudden mission, this one. They had been given information of a gala that Hatori and many other high-class underworld heads would be attending. It was a masquerade—how fitting. Half of these men and women were known people in high-society and most of them were into illegal activities be it small things like drugs to the major leagues like unauthorized shipping of weapons. Of course those were hidden behind wealth, fame and good publicists—oh and the masks.

Not all were crimelords—it was just that, ninety percent of them were accused of being one and thrity-five percent, Sasuke and Sakura knew, were definitely part of a big-time crime syndicate who've once or twice made it to one of their files in HQ.

Lucky for them, they were on the hunt for someone else.

"This is some high-class drug deal meet-up." Sakura grumbled. Really, the point of this was for these criminal heads to meet and converse—maybe strike up an agreement to work together and help each other out—all in all they were here to give people like Sakura and Sasuke headaches and a whole lot of paperwork.

"_I'd bomb the place if I were Tsunade." _Ino voiced her opinion through the tiny ear pieces on Sakura's ear. The rosette, in turn, replied levelly. "Not everyone is bad here Ino—it's still a charity ball—with some uncertain guests of questionable moral standing but hey, they still were helping a medical charity.

_"I'm just saying—less reports to file_. _Now you two go act normal and dance a little." _Were they sticking out that badly? Sakura thought to herself as she eyed the center of the room with a little longing; she did want to dance but she was pretty sure her dark-haired companion thought the idea was repulsive.

Sasuke caught her longing stare and put a hand out for Sakura to take. "May I have this dance?" he asked in his deep and charming baritone. Sakura laughed and took his hand.

"Only because you asked nicely."

"You're glad I asked."

* * *

_LOCATION: Liquid Fire Hotel Back Entrance, 9 pm_

In a van hidden by crates and dumpsters, Ino and Tayuya monitored the party. Both women were bored and irritable. There was no sign of Hatori and definitely no sign of his boss.

"We don't even know what he looks like! What're we going to do, take an educated guess and go fromt there?" Tayuya sat in front of the screen, glaring at the dancing people. "And _why_ am I not down there?" she asked Ino who was beside her.

The blonde rolled her eyes and put down her coffee. "Hatori shot you—he's seen your face." Ino wasn't happy about the arrangement either. Being stuck with Tayuya in a small van, that wasn't exactly a dream either.

"Fine but why aren't you giving me microphone?" Ino had taken away her microphone the moment they set up the screens and video feed. A precautionary method, if you will, in case she started a fight with Sakura again or vice versa.

This was an important mission. Hatori was the head honcho's number one delivery boy. Wherever he was going would be a direct order from the boss. So if they were to follow or get a lead on their whereabouts, taking down the drug-lord would be smooth sailing onwards.

That is, if they could just spot him.

"Tayuya, just shut up." Ino grumbled. She was trying her hardest to check for signs of Hatori or if the two agents were being recognized. It was tough enough doing it alone but with Tayuya rambling over such trivial matters, it was downright impossible.

"Ugh. Just tell her not to be a whore around my boyfriend—OW!" A red mark appeared on her forehead where Ino had hit her with a random flyswatter. "You were asking for that one, admit it."

The redhead rubbed her stinging forehead and glared at the grinning blonde. "Where _fuck _did you get a flyswatter?"

* * *

_11 hours prior to mission. Location: ANBU Headquarters Training Floor. 10 am_

He leapt through the air like a tiger about to pounce on his unfortunate prey—his muscles were coiled and tensed as he cut through the air in a blur of fluid movement. Laughing green eyes followed their subject; amusement glazing them as they followed his interesting procedure.

In this state, Sasuke looked like a surreal entity, soaring through air with such agility—as if gravity was of no value.

The small group of young men, women and a few children no younger than twelve let out a synchronized gasp of awe at the younger Uchiha's obviouse skill.

"Teme, Teme,Teme, Temeeeee—ACK!" Naruto wailed—ruining what seemed to be, to the small group, more-so to the ladies, an ethereal moment. A girl in glasses grumbled a few string of curses that the blonde ignored as he tried to regain a little of his balance. Sasuke had stepped on a sore part of his shoulder instead of the wall.

"Could you not step on me?"

"Could you _not_ be in my way when I'm training?" Sasuke dropped to the ground noiselessly, straightening out his shirt while he was at it. His routing was to run, jump over a few railings and then run up a wall to 'save' a practice dummy; Sasuke was about to get to the running up the wall part had Naruto not appeared out of nowhere—he could've avoided the idiot, but where was the fun in that? So the Uchiha angled his flight and had placed a booted foot on his friend's sore shoulder.

Naruto glared at him and crossed his toned arms; another eruption of female sighs was heard but ignored once more.

Training? Really? That was his excuse? It looked more like he was showing off with his ridiculous rendition of what normal people called: parkour. His eyes darted to a group of junior agents huddled in a corner staring dreamily at his dark haired, and now smirking, best friend.

"I was demonstrating, dobe." Sasuke grumbled lowly. "I got stuck with training duty because Kakashi had an important meeting with Itachi." The irritation in his voice matched the Uchiha's features; his eyes had narrowed and his jaw was set.—because hey, it wasn't his job to teach junior agents.

Nor was it his job to babysit. They had trainees in here for crying out loud. They were minors-what if something bad happened?

Sasuke sighed again, running a hand through his raven locks.

Kakashi had been scheduled to give chosen trainees and junior agents a class on free-running and body movements that would come in handy on the field; some kind of prize for doing well Sasuke figured, though why a class with Kakashi would be considered a class—he couldn't quite comprehend. He remembered his first class with the silver-haired man. Sasuke didn't admit it but he was sore all over for a week- and that was supposedly just a beginners conditioning course.

"They couldn't get anko to just improvise a class?" Sasuke ruffled his spiky hair and glared at his friend. "You think I didn't already ask?" he spat, before redirecting the path of conversation. "What're you doing here?"

The blonde's face turned serious. He took a file that he tucked under his arms and handed it to Sasuke all the while, explaining what it meant whilst Sasuke got up to speed. "Hyuga's getting really impatient over those components do you think Sakura could get them to him before the day ends?"

A few feet away, Sasuke picked up bits and pieces of his temporary students' psycho-babbling. "Dude, I think they're talking S-rank!" he heard the one with weird green hair say as he nudged a short girl with glasses who had an interestingly quiet demeanour—almost Hinata-like.

A brunette with long and messy hair shoved past the poor girl and playfully punched the green-haired junior agent. "No way, I totally bet it's black-ops kinda serious." Holy shit, this was a next generation of _their _generation, the Uchiha couldn't help but think; they had a Naruto-type and everything.

Sasuke huffed loudly and turned his attention to the students who were now beginning their hardest to listen in on the conversation he was having with the blonde. He was pretty sure one of them disappeared to get a hearing device.

"Whichever it is, it's beyond your clearance—class dismissed." His tone was firm and icy; the younger agents couldn't help but leave while carefully eyeing his gun holster lest he decide that they didn't need any more agents and do away with them.

Turning back to Naruto, Sasuke glanced back at the file and shoved it back to him rather forcefully. Naruto stumbled back a little; not expecting such force to be put into giving him back the folder. He steadied his footing and with an irritated grumble, tucked the folder back under his arm.

"Tell him, Sakura isn't even supposed to be working on this case—she's a little pre-occupied with our case too." Naruto rolled his eyes. "What, the cold-case that you lost your lead on?" The blonde crossed his arms and looked at the Uchiha straight in the eyes.

That was a low blow—he and his team were still sore over the whole restaurant catastrophe. It was a failure that ate the whole team up whether they admitted it or not.

"Dude, her official case or not, if she's needed then we are allowed to utilize her—it's not like she works for you and you alone in this case. You're well-aware of that—we all work together here." Naruto was right. They may be assigned different missions but of course they were obliged to help out with others too—everyone had different skillsets after all.

"I know that, dobe. But I saw her last night—she's overworked." He remembered watching her type and decode until her body forced a system shut down on her. Fatigue won out against caffeine and will-power. Sakura needed a little break.

Naruto laughed a little. "She's Tsunade's apprentice, of course she's overworked."

"Indeed, I am." A calm and slightly amused feminine voice from behind floated to the young men's ears, shocking the two arguing agents out of their little conversation. High-heeled shoes click-clacked as the rosette neared her two best friends; "But I am the best for a reason" she said with a wink as handed Naruto a slightly thick folder. "Go take a look, you might want to read up in case Hyuuga wants you to report it to him—I think he'd rather read it himself but hey, just be sure."

She let the blonde go and scan through her findings, turning to Sasuke to while away her time. "And by the way, he was right; you were kind of showing off." The jolly blonde grinned and put an arm around Sakura, the file temporarily forgotten. "HAH! Told you!" Wasn't he just oozing with arrogance Sakura-chan? It wasn't even a complicated jump."

"I was watching since the first thirty minutes of the class—parkour…nice touch." She mocked wiggling her eyebrows at the reddening Uchiha.

Sakura laughed at the expression on Sasuke's face at their combined statements. Sakura and Naruto always had a way with being able to push the right buttons to render Sasuke into a mess of irritation and killing intent—it was a special talent and required a lot of guts. A _lot _of fucking guts; considering he had a gun.

The ill-tempered young man took an indignant breath of air and glowered at the two people in front of him "I don't like to bore my students." He retaliated, shoving his hand down his pockets and looking away from the doddering fools who couldn't—or _wouldn't _stop laughing at his expense. To him, training was more about _doing _than just being hypothetical. That was why he booked the training room; all these kids were doing was reading and doing the things in their heads—he wanted them to be able to run up a wall if it meant securing a target _not _just knowing the physics and science behind it. The junior agents, well they already knew these things—but practice makes perfect. And in this industry perfection was the baseline.

"I'm sure Anko was going to get to that part of their training. Remember our first session?" Sakura asked Naruto who'd gone back to reading. Another laugh bubbled from the grinning blonde. "Free-running was a bitch."

The only female snorted. "Hah. Not to me, I totally killed it." For a few seconds she reminisced their days when they were twelve; free-running and bounding off trees in a forest. It was the most amazing thing, feeling the wind rushing through her ears, the adrenaline pumping through her veins as they all leapt over high branches and landing on a branch even higher.

"I was stuck on a tree and couldn't get down—it was a _bitch_." Naruto commented, standing by his initial statement on the subject.

"It's a party down there, isn't it?" someone drawled from the watch box that was positioned high-above them, looking over the training room. It was a huge rectangular viewing room where instructors could watch the students, and if they were doing a simulation, that was where it was controlled too. Next to it, was a smaller viewing room for agents who wanted to watch the training session.

Naruto looked up at the bigger box and grinned. "Shikamaru! You were watching right? Wasn't teme showing off?"

"Quite. What exactly, were you trying to do, Uchiha?" Sakura guffawed and cast an evil eye on Sasuke. "Trying to look cool, I suppose."

"Don't you people have jobs?" Sasuke grumbled.

* * *

_LOCATION: ANBU HEADQUARTERS, FLOOR 8. Capt. Uchiha Itachi's Office. Time: 10 AM_

"What do you think?" Kakashi asked as Itachi eyed the bagged item on his desk with mild interest. "You are sure of your findings?" the older Uchiha asked calmly, he now had a glint in his eyes that told Kakashi that Itachi's mental gears were gathering speed and momentum. _I just need him to back me up. _He thought to himself with a determination he thought he wouldn't feel ever again. Funny how cold cases with new leads could change a man's demeanour.

"Yes, I did the tests myself." The dark-haired man glanced up at him and raised an eyebrow. "What? You don't trust my skills?" Kakashi asked playfully, feigning a hurt expression by putting a hand on his chest.

Itachi dropped the bag and leaned into his high-backed black leather swivel chair and cast his gaze at the silver-haired man leaning on his table. "You have one eye covered."

"And you wear nailpolish." Kakashi pointed out. "Purple nail polish." His grin was hidden by his mask and he was thankful. Itachi twitched in irritation at the man's quick and sometimes annoying wit. "I thought we were stating obvious things." Kakashi explained innocently with a shrug of his shoulders.

The older Uchiha rolled his inky orbs. "I'll look into it. You have my support."

A satisfied Kakashi nodded and shifted his weight, he now stood upright and immediately crossed the room at a brisk pace. He'd already reached and opened the door when his dear colleague coughed to get his attention.

The former ANBU captain half-turned, inclining his head at an angle to address the Uchiha. "It's a fashion statement." He heard him say lowly. It didn't take him long to realize he was addressing his knack for using nailpolish.

"So is my covered eye." Kakashi stated before exiting the room.

* * *

_LOCATION: ANBU HEADQUARTERS, FLOOR 8. Capt. Hyuga Neji's Office. 11 AM._

Naruto delivered the folder to a flustered looking Neji, though he tried his hardest to hide the fact that he was by glaring at the blonde the minute he walked into the room.

The office was a little different than the others he's been in. Most ANBU captains had dark walls and even darker furniture maybe a little glass embellishments here and there. But Neji's office was one of the unique ones. It had light-beige walls and had a _lot _of glass. The floor was dark wood and at the center of the room was a huge circular rug that was white with a beige outline. His table was glass-topped with a dark brown framework. The chairs were see-through with metal legs and each one of them had a white cushion on them.

The layout of the entire room was minimalistic. Bookcases and drawers lined one wall and ended down the middle of the room where a painting of a Japanese house was placed; a white couch pushed against the same place the painting was so it hovered a few feet above the couch.

The cerulean-eyed young man strode up to the table and handed the folder to him "Make three copies, bring them back and read up. We'll meet in an hour to discuss things over and see if we can pull anything from the composition to figure out what this guy is making."

That was, by far, the longest order he'd received from the ANBU Captain. Naruto stood erect, trying to take in everything he had said. And did he just give him a job a secretary did? No way in hell was he going to sit and wait in line to use the copy-machine and make three copies of a lengthy composition report. He thought he'd passed that stage the blonde thought glumly as memories of his 'fresh-from-training' agent days resurfaced.

He interned for Kakashi along with Sakura and Sasuke; which meant filing, copying, and being allowed to be part of missions, though heavily watched. Naruto then went under the tutelage of Jiraiya—another legend in the industry while Sakura was under Tsunade and Sasuke, under Itachi. At nineteen, all three had been promoted to Junior Agents and by twenty-three, they were with the big leagues and have already established quite a reputation around the industry.

So no. He was not going to fucking copy the damn file.

This earned an exasperated sigh from the pearly-eyed brunette. "Do you need me to write that down for you Uzumaki?" Neji asked levelly. "Or are you capable of reiterating what I just said to my secretary so she can do it?"

A light bulb clicked to life. "Oh, you wanted me to tell your sec—the face the ANBU Captain was giving him told the blonde to shut up and just leave. "I got it. I got it. See you in twenty minutes." He scrambled out away from the desk was just about to leave the office when the brunette called him back.

"Uzumaki, you're going to have to take the folder with you."

"Ah, right." He ran back to the table and snatched the folder up quickly and proceeded to run out of the room with newfound and immensely huge respect for Neji's secretary. He or she must have had the guts of steel to be able to put up with this guy. He glanced back quickly before disappearing out of sight.

Neji stared after the blonde, sighing as he returned to his files. "This is the man my cousin is in love with? It was funny how much he wanted to hate the blonde idiot but something prevented him from doing so. It must've been the Uzumaki's charm.

He did not just call Uzumaki Naruto charming…..

Before he could go anywhere else with those slightly obstinate thoughts, ANBU Captain's musings were thankfully interrupted by an unplanned visitor.

His door, that the blonde had forgotten to close on his way out, framed one of his colleagues who was in gear that was doused in blood and grime. "Neji." Tenten stood by the door; her face was ashen and her knees seemed to be a little weak. The Hyuuga stood up quickly and regarded her appearance with a questioning cock of his head.

"We found another body."

* * *

_7 hours prior to mission. Location: INTEL_

Shikarmaru yawned while he scanned yet another video feed from a known hotel—he watched clients file in, in their glamorous suits and outfits carrying at least three designer suit cases. This was the most boring part of being stuck with Intel: Watching hours and hours of stupid video feed just to look for one person.

And more often than not, he doesn't find who he was looking for which would entail another wave of life-wasting video feeds from a different location.

With his credentials, shouldn't he be breaking codes and into heavily walled databases? Well, he did those three hours ago while eating lunch—but still. This was a boring endeavour and could be done by a junior agent; at least he or she would've been excited by it.

Shikamaru sighed, as he his careful eyes scanned the monitor for any possible appearances. He began to chant a little, because well, he just needed to do something. "Hatori, Hatori, Ha—Was that him?

The brunette jumped out of his seat and leaned closer to the bright screen, his hand automatically reaching for the mouse to zoom in on the feed. He needed a closer look to be sure. "Well finally." He muttered to himself. "Looks like I get to do some cloud watching after all."

There, in broad daylight, was their target, walking into another one of Konoha's well-known and expensive hotels, dressed to the nines and checking in. Whoever the leader was, he paid well.

Shikamaru reached for his phone and entered a number he'd already memorized. He stuck the phone between his left ear and shoulder, as he promptly began to hack into the hotel's system to find out what room Hatori was booked in and what he was doing in a swanky hotel to begin with.

Wouldn't he be trying to lay low?

The phone rang three more times before a curt reply from the other end filled his ears. _"Yes?" _

The lazy genius smirked and leaned back on his uncomfortable office chair, still staring at the screen as he spoke to his colleague on the other line. "How much do you think drug dealers make?" He heard the rosette mutter for someone to quiet down.

"Was that Naruto?" Shikamaru asked, mildly surprised. Uzumaki was on a different case? _"Another body came in, I just ran a few tests. Naruto—no, that's my file, we switched folders. Here's yours." _

Shikamaru drummed his fingers against the desk patiently as he waited for Sakura to find a private spot. _"You were saying?" _she asked rather breathlessly after a few minutes.

The brunette glanced at the screen again and took the paper he just printed. "Whoever your target's leader is, he makes sure his underlings are well paid."

_"What do you mean?"_

* * *

_Location: Hatake Kakashi's Office, 3 pm, ANBU HEADQUARTERS_

_"He's attending a charity gala?" Sasuke asked, eyeing Shikamaru with a look of disbelief, grabbing the paper he was offered and re-reading what was just read to him moments ago. Was a serious-to-death drug dealer seriously going to attend a highly broadcasted and heavily event?_

_"But look at the guest list." Shikamaru stated, handing him another piece of paper. Sakura looked over her own copy and gasped. "Most of the attendees are rich people who've been accused of illegal activities." It was like a convention of illegal masterminds and underlings who wanted to give back to society._

_"Well, at least they want to help cure cancer." Sakura said sarcastically, showing Ino the file. "Didn't we take down this guy's illegal weapon shipping cartel last month?" The blonde nodded. "Yeah, but he got out of his sentence scratch free." Ino rubbed her fingers together in a way that meant: 'money can talk, and it talks good.'_

_"Kakashi is organizing the mission now, he said to wait for him here." Shikamaru said noting that _all four agents were perched in different parts of the office; Sasuke and Tayuya were both seated on one of Kakashi's black couches, Ino was by the window while Sakura was casually sitting on Kakashi's table—they were all waiting for Kakashi to come in mission clearance.

"I feel like a girl waiting for her date to show up." Ino grumbled, checking her watch again and glaring at the arrows. Sakura, from where she sat, threw her a sly glance. "Do you now?" she teased, grinning when the blonde in question turned a funny shade of red.

"Shut up." Sakura shrugged at the lame retort. Everyone knew Ino and Shikamaru had an unofficial thing going on—it was cute really. They'd both 'hang out' often but would never call these little meetings dates.

"Oh just admit it, Ino." The rosette crossed her legs and wiggled her eyebrows. "You both dig each other—why not just make it official?"

Ino's voice hitched in her throat as she stumbled to find an appropriate comeback to her friend who looked like she was having the time of her life.

"Really, Haruno? Is your love life that bad that you have to make someone else's your concern?" A snide voice piped up from the couch.

Sakura, with ferocious grace, snapped her head towards the redhead's direction and sneered. "Who invited _you _to the conversation?" There was a sharp and heavy paperweight on Kakashi's table that Sakura eyed with her peripheral vision. With the right aim, she could pretty much smash the blabbering bitch's forehead.

Tayuya flipped her hair with an air of arrogance. "Well, you weren't doing much to keep it private now were you?" She flipped her magazine to the next page and continued to read as her hand crept over slowly to Sasuke's thigh.

Her suggestive gesture earned a smirk from the Uchiha and a mini-barf from Sakura who'd turned to the blonde, mouthing the words: 'I Hate Her'. Ino laughed a little and leaned her back against the window, crossing her arms over her chest as she nodded in completely agreement. "A well-known fact." She stated, casually looking at the two love birds across the room,

"You know, there are other people in this room." Sakura stated dryly, looking in disgust as Tayuya began to inch a little higher. The redhead sneered at her and slid her hand up further, making Sasuke jump at her sudden ministration. "Don't fucking watch, then." She suggested.

Sakura's mouth dropped to the floor at the woman's guts. She turned to Ino with an expression that screamed: Can I kill her? Sakura was beyond angry at this point. Here she was, along with Ino; who wasn't entirely paying attention but whatever, being subjected to such gross and might she say, slightly scandalous interaction between Tayuya and her dark-haired, and seeming to be unaware of the wickedness of his girlfriend, friend.

"I'll take my leave." Shikamaru muttered abashedly, gathering his files and flicking a hand at them as a wave of some sort. He'd already opened the door when Kakashi came through, clapping his hand once to command the attention of the people in his office.

"Tayuya, save that for the bedroom." This earned a laugh from Sakura and a flurry of words form the redhead. "Ladies and gents, two of you will be infiltrating the party, find out what Hatori is doing there—I have a nagging feeling that he's there because his boss is too." He began handing out color-coded mission folders—yes, Hatake Kakashi was a perfectionist.

"Yellow folders, you are the second pair of eyes and ears of our blue folder holders. What they see, you will, and if they miss something—let them know." Ino nodded, she was used to getting assigned these types. But with her, there was an added duty; she had to analyse body movement, voice patterns and the sort.

She looked at Sakura to start strategizing who'd do what but when she turned to her, she found that Sakura had a blue folder in hand.

* * *

_Current Time and Location_

"How's it going with Tayuya?" Sasuke asked Sakura as he twirled Sakura with a fluidity of someone who was used to dancing at parties like these. Well, he was forced to attend galas and balls—of course he'd know how to dance. He just didn't want to.

The rosette immediately looked a little annoyed. "Okay, if we're talking about your girlfriend, I'm going to need alcohol in my system first—a lot of it." And then maybe a little bit of chocolate to ease the distraught that the redhead had solely brought into her life.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and pulled her back to him, sliding his hand around her waist. He took a long look at her face before speaking. "You look tired." He said, changing the topic to avoid a fight.

Sakura, thankful for any escape from the previous topic, beamed at him. "I had to help with Naruto's case. They found another body—then he had my folder on _this _case and thought it was his so I had to run around the place to look for it."

It was a tiring day, more tiring than most, but it all seemed to have disappeared the moment he asked her to dance.

_"Guys, I see Hatori. Three o' clock—he's leaving now; follow him." _Sakura sprang into action, she flicked her head to see a man of Hatori's stature start to make his way through the door followed by a mysterious man.

Sasuke dropped his hand from her waist and began to follow the pair.

* * *

They followed them into the elevators. Hatori had just entered the elevator when Sasuke and Sakura stumbled out of the corner. "Great, we can take the next one up—shit. Sakura was stopped short by a hand that peaked out of the elevator door; stopping it from closing.

He must've seen them when they stumbled out.

So she improvised—"Going up?" Hatori asked politely, sticking his head out of the door to address the two young agents.

"Oh, we get the polite drug-dealers." Sakura whispered in annoyance. Thank God it was a masquerade ball. Otherwise, they'd be fucked.

"It's because of your cleavage." Sasuke grumbled, glaring at her overly low-cut dress that just screamed 'stare at my boobs'

She ignored her overprotective partner and batted her lashes at the waiting drug dealer. Though Sasuke didn't see the point of her having to bat her lashes flirtatiously, she was in a mask for fuck's sake.

"Haha, yes!" Sakura answered, changing her voice a little before dragging a resistant Sasuke into the fancy elevator. "Floor thirteen please" she breathed in her foreign voice. Hatori nodded curtly and leaned back against the wall, the button had already been pressed the moment Sakura walked in, which meant they were heading for the same floor.

It was an awkward ride. None of the occupants spoke or even attempted to start a conversation. It was kind of hard to find a common ground between their two different worlds besides humanly functions and killing without flinching.

But talking about going to the toilet and pulling triggers was hardly suitable elevator talk.

It felt like forever for them to arrive but it happened eventually. The elevator _pinged _as it came to a smooth stop. Its metal doors slid open revealing a tall man in his mid-thirties carrying a briefcase. He had a handsome but mean looking face and his hair was slicked back into a low pony tail.

"You're late—my plane leaves in thirty minutes." Hatori nodded and stepped aside to let Sasuke and Sakura out of the elevator since he didn't have to go get his companion anymore.

Sasuke gripped Sakura's wrist and pulled her out of the elevator with him. As soon as they stepped out, the elevator closed and began its slow descend to the first floor, leaving the two astounded agents to stare at the opposite wall.

_"Did we just—_

"We just found our primary target."

This case was finally going somewhere.

* * *

Filler chapter, I know. But I have transition into the next part of the plot. =)

**LOVE IT?**

**HATE IT?**

** .REVIEW.**

**They make my day. =)**


End file.
